Twenty nine years ago, on this day, November 21st, 1997,
ENERGY giant Shell is considering pulling out of coal production in Australia in what would be the first major move anywhere in the world by a multinational company to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The Dutch chairman of the corporation, Mr Cor Herstroter, has told two London newspapers the groups’ coal assets “were at present under review with the aim of divestment”. But Shell Australia executives yesterday played down the reports from London, claiming that the company fully intended to stay in coal production.
Benson, S. 1997. Coal too hot for Shell. Daily Telegraph, November 21
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 364ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that, awash in cash in the 1970s, oil companies had bought up all sorts of assets. Some they got out of quickly, others, more slowly.
The specific context was Shell was having a think…
What I think we can learn from this – companies invest, divest, everything changes.
What happened next – Shell did in fact get rid of its Australian coal mines…
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
November 21, 1969 – the first permanent ARPANET link – All Our Yesterdays
November 21, 1994 – Skeptic invited to engage with IPCC (Spoiler, he doesn’t)
November 21, 2013 – “Cut the Green Crap” said UK Prime Minister