LONDON — The head of global energy giant Shell says it would be “irresponsible” to cut oil and gas production at a time when the world economy is still dependent on fossil fuels.
In an interview with the BBC released Thursday, Shell CEO Wael Sawan also refused to rule out moving the company’s headquarters and stock market listing from Britain to the United States.“The reality is, the energy system of today continues to desperately need oil and gas,” Sawan said. “And before we are able to let go of that, we need to make sure that we have developed the energy systems of the future — and we are not yet, collectively, moving at the pace that to happen.
Guterres has said achieving the U.N.’s goal of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels was still possible, but only if countries accelerate their efforts to cut carbon emissions. As energy prices soared last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, wealthy countries bought up much of the world’s supply of liquefied natural gas, taking it away from places like Bangladesh and Pakistan, where children were forced to study by candlelight, he said.