The backtracking of major European oil and gas companies on climate

The report argues that six major European oil and gas companies are backtracking on climate goals by reducing investments in low-carbon activities and increasing oil and gas production targets. It highlights a significant gap between these companies' strategies and the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario, noting that fossil fuels still capture over 60% of planned investments. The document specifically details reductions in renewable energy targets for BP, Eni, Shell, TotalEnergies, and Equinor, while noting that none of the six companies plan to reduce fossil fuel production.

• Five of the six largest European oil and gas companies have significantly cut their planned investments in "low carbon" activities, which include renewable power, bioenergy, carbon capture, and gas power. Specifically, BP reduced its planned annual low-carbon investments to a fifth, Eni reduced renewable energy investments by nearly a quarter over four years, Shell's share of "Renewables & Energy Solutions" investments dropped from 19% in 2025 to 9% for 2025-2030, TotalEnergies decreased "integrated power and low carbon molecules" investments from 33% to 26% by 2030, and Equinor abandoned its goal of allocating 50% of gross investments to renewable and low-carbon power by 2030.
• None of the six major European companies intend to reduce fossil fuel production, contradicting the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Net Zero Emissions (NZE) scenario, which requires a 21% reduction in oil and a 13% reduction in gas production by 2030 compared to 2023. BP, Eni, Equinor, and TotalEnergies have increased their 2030 production targets to exceed the NZE trajectory by more than 50%, while Shell plans a 1% annual increase in oil and gas production until 2030.
• Major companies are expanding their liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure despite NZE guidelines. Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni, BP, and Equinor are all planning new LNG export terminals by 2030.
• Companies are distancing themselves from responsibility for indirect emissions (scope 3), which accounted for over 90% of their emissions in 2024. BP has abandoned its 2030 scope 3 target and its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality for production (scopes 1, 2, and 3) by 2050. Repsol replaced its target of reducing carbon intensity for scopes 1, 2, and 3 (2016-2030) with a new absolute reduction target using a 2018 reference year.

APA

Martin, L. (2025). The backtracking of major European oil and gas companies on climate. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/19/the-backtracking-of-major-european-oil-and-gas-companies-on-climate/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. The backtracking of major European oil and gas companies on climate. Reclaim Finance, 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/19/the-backtracking-of-major-european-oil-and-gas-companies-on-climate/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=The backtracking of major European oil and gas companies on climate |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=19 May 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/19/the-backtracking-of-major-european-oil-and-gas-companies-on-climate/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{martin2025backtracking, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{The backtracking of major European oil and gas companies on climate}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/05/19/the-backtracking-of-major-european-oil-and-gas-companies-on-climate/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }