ExxonMobil investor Engine No.1 says that oil firms should have switched to more transition-focused businesses before the 2008 financial crisis
Oil companies missed transition pivot
Shell and activist investor both agree that mistakes were made in the ’00s
“We gave up wind 15 years ago, which was a strategic mistake,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden admitted in an October Ted event otherwise overshadowed by the executive being on the end of a withering personal attack by a climate campaigner. And Chris James, founder of investor Engine No.1, agrees that oil firms such as Shell should have switched to more transition-focused businesses before the 2008 financial crisis. “There was an opportunity, about 15 years ago, for the oil and gas industry to lean very heavily into renewables and to really start the energy transition,” says James. “That is when they had a cost-of-capital advantage, that is when they had great balance sheets. But it did not happen
Also in this section
5 December 2025
Mistaken assumptions around an oil bull run that never happened are a warning over the talk of a supply glut
4 December 2025
Time is running out for Lukoil and Rosneft to divest international assets that will be mostly rendered useless to them when the US sanctions deadline arrives in mid-December
3 December 2025
Aramco’s pursuit of $30b in US gas partnerships marks a strategic pivot. The US gains capital and certainty; Saudi Arabia gains access, flexibility and a new export future
2 December 2025
The interplay between OPEC+, China and the US will define oil markets throughout 2026
