Shell drops renewables, enviros howl

Royal Dutch Shell says it’s pulling the plug on its renewable energy investments to focus on its core strengths of oil and gas, according to Reuters.

Speaking at a press conference, Linda Cook, head of the company’s gas and power unit, said solar and wind energy investments “struggle to compete” with spending on fossil fuel development.

Hydrogen energy offers even less potential for the company, officials said. Instead, Shell’s future focus on renewables will concentrate on biofuel development.

Reuters reported that Shell spent some $1.25 billion on green-energy investments between 1999 and 2006. It went on to quote an analyst who surmised the company’s reversal on renewables likely resulted from the collapse in oil prices since last summer.

Shell’s decision has provoked outrage from green-energy proponents, both private and public.

“With one press conference, Shell has cemented their status as a regressive, unambitious corporate dinosaur,” Greenpeace UK said on its Website. “Every bit of green PR they’ve ever produced, every solemn statement they’ve made about how important the environment is to them — in short, every bit of greenwash they’ve employed to try and make themselves look less like money-grubbing pillagers of the natural environment is revealed as a sham. It’s pretty pathetic stuff.”