The six European oil and gas giants presented their new strategies<\/b><\/a><\/span> ahead of their annual general meetings (AGMs), revealing a significant degree of backtracking on climate issues. (1) There is no longer any doubt that these companies\u2019 climate-damaging strategies.\u00a0 While the International Energy Agency\u2019s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) scenario has included no new fossil fields or liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals since 2021, (2) these companies continue to prioritize fossil expansion and have reduced their commitment to renewable power. Financial institutions can no longer turn a blind eye. Far from being in transition, these companies have no intention of changing their model.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> 2025 was marked by BP resetting its climate strategy to prioritize oil and gas and significantly reducing its commitment to renewable power, which was already a small part of its strategy. This announcement was not without controversy, with nearly a quarter of shareholders opposing the re-election of Helge Lund as director at this year\u2019s AGM, compared to less than 5% the previous year. (3)<\/p>\n<\/div> The five largest European oil and gas companies have significantly reduced their ambitions for investments in so-called \u00ab\u00a0<\/span>low carbon<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00bb activities. These activities include renewable power, but also controversial solutions such as bioenergy, carbon capture, and even gas power. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Only Repsol has kept its investment plan unchanged, with 19% of its planned investments in renewables. These adjustments clearly show the priority given to fossil fuels, which overall capture more than 60% of planned investments. To align with the NZE trajectory, these companies should cease all investment in new fossil projects and allocate most of their resources to \u00ab\u00a0clean energy\u00a0\u00bb. (9) These new investment plans mean that companies have backtracked on some of their key commitments: BP has abandoned its renewable capacity target for 2030, (10) while Equinor has significantly reduced its targets. (11)<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> None of the six major European companies now plan to reduce their fossil fuel production. The NZE scenario, however, shows a 21% and 13% reduction in oil and gas production respectively by 2030, compared to 2023 levels. (12)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These targets are partly based on gas production, and more particularly LNG. Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni, BP, and Equinor are all planning new LNG export terminals by 2030, incompatible with the NZE. LNG, often described as a transition energy, is <\/span>a fossil energy <\/a><\/span>that is devastating for the climate, and which promotes the development of new gas fields by perpetuating and increasing\u00a0 demand. It is also responsible for <\/span>significant methane leaks all along the value chain<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Impacted by the planned reductions in renewable capacity and increases in fossil production, the energy production mix of Eni, Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies will be highly carbon-intensive in 2030, with renewable power representing less than 10% of their future production.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> By betting on fossil fuels and ignoring the NZE scenario trajectory, companies continue to produce excessive greenhouse gas emissions. For these six European companies, indirect emissions (scope 3) represented more than 90% of their emissions in 2024. (14) Reducing these emissions would require a change in model, which is not the direction taken by these companies. On the contrary, these companies minimize their responsibility for scope 3 emissions, aiming for a reduction \u00ab\u00a0together with society\u00a0\u00bb in the case of TotalEnergies, for example, or advocating false solutions such as carbon capture or offsetting.<\/p>\n<\/div> The climate backtracking of companies over the last twelve months by indicator<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This lack of strategic willingness to align with a 1.5\u00b0C trajectory results in a dramatic revision of decarbonization targets for the climate. BP, Equinor, and Repsol have thus abandoned or reduced some of their targets including scope 3 for 2030. Repsol attempted to mask its backtracking by company abandoning its target of reducing carbon intensity scopes 1, 2, and 3 between 2016 and 2030, and setting a new target for absolute reduction for scopes 1, 2, and 3 with a new reference year of 2018 (15). As for BP, the company has simply abandoned its scope 3 target for 2030 and its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality for its production for scopes 1, 2, and 3 by 2050. This backtracking illustrates a total lack of willingness to transform in the short, medium, and long term.<\/p>\n<\/div> These strategies, harmful to the climate, are only possible due to the support of financial institutions. The latter can no longer hide behind the promises of diversification from these companies, which prioritize oil and gas to the detriment of renewable power. During this AGM period, investors must take their responsibilities seriously. They must notably vote in favor of the shareholder resolution demanding more transparency on the LNG strategy and its alignment with the carbon strategy at Shell’s AGM on May 20 (16), in order to clearly condemn fossil fuel expansion. Reclaim Finance also calls on investors in Shell and TotalEnergies, which will hold its AGM May 23, to vote <\/span><\/b>against the re-elections of the directors and their remuneration<\/b><\/a><\/span>..<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>Investments in \u00ab\u00a0Low Carbon\u00a0\u00bb: a drastic reduction<\/h2><\/span>
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A growing gap between the energy mix produced and climate goals<\/h2><\/span>
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Indirect Emissions: A Denial of Responsibility<\/h2><\/span>
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\n \n<\/th>\n BP<\/th>\n Eni<\/th>\n Equinor<\/th>\n Repsol<\/th>\n Shell<\/th>\n TotalEnergies<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Share of \u00ab\u00a0low carbon\u00a0\u00bb in the investment plan<\/td>\n ![](\"https:\/\/reclaimfinance.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Cross-Icon.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Oil and gas production<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Installed renewable capacity in 2030<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n N\/A<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Mitigation targets<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n : the company has gone back on its climate commitments for this indicator over the last 12 months<\/p>\n<\/div>