Royal Dutch Shell may have started investing in greener fuels in preparation for a net-zero emission future but the recent departure of clean energy executives show controversy exists over how fast and far.
According to a Financial Times report, the upsurge of resignations comes just weeks before Shell is set to announce its strategy for the energy transition.
While some executives have pushed for a more aggressive shift from oil, top management is more inclined to stick closer to the company’s current path, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Marc van Gerven, who headed the solar, storage and onshore wind businesses at Shell, Eric Bradley, who worked in Shell’s distributed energy division, and Katherine Dixon, a leader in its energy transition strategy team, have all left the company in recent weeks.
Dorine Bosman, Shell’s vice-president for offshore wind, is also due to leave the company. Several other top executives in the clean energy part of the business also plan to exit in the coming months, two of the people said.
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A person familiar with the internal split said every move is known to be linked to frustration about the pace of change but people familiar with the internal debate said there were deep divisions over the timeframe for reducing the company’s dependence on oil and gas revenues, which had influenced at least some of the departing executives.
“People are really questioning if there will be any change at all,” said one of the people familiar with the internal tensions. “Part of the frustration is that you see the potential, but the mindset isn’t there among senior leaders for anything radical.”
Ben van Beurden, chief executive, has said investment into lower-carbon businesses such as biofuels and solar power “needs to accelerate”. However, he has also said that oil will continue to be a huge cash generator and the company will expand its gas division. “There is going to be a place for our upstream business for many decades to come,” he recently told a conference.
Companies like Shell have a rich and proud heritage in producing oil and gas and indeed it is their major business. But now they have the opportunity to participate in the energy transition. They have a global footprint, they have fantastic technology capabilities and they build the biggest projects in the world.
Three years ago, Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s largest producers of fossil fuels agreed to purchase Europe’s biggest electric vehicle charging companies resulting in a significant push into a market that threatens to one day topple the oil industry.
