WHY WE CAN’T QUIT OIL

AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER of 2021, as the CEOs of the three biggest U.S. oil and gas companies presented their firms’ earnings, investors fired off a range of questions about how they were addressing climate change. The market had already come to view fossil fuels as old, dirty energy, and after oil prices cratered in 2020, owing largely to the pandemic, investors wanted to know how these companies would adapt. They asked whether carbon capture could be an engine to grow revenue, and how the companies viewed the climate-policy landscape. “We are committed to providing products to help customers reduce their emissions,” said Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil. “Across the globe we’re helping economies decarbonize.”

This year, the conversation was much different. Oil and gas are now hot commodities following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and on first-quarter investor calls in 2022, those same CEOs announced massive profits. As investors dialed in to pepper the CEOs with questions, the topic of climate change hardly came up. Instead, investors focused on dividends and share buybacks: ways the companies can pass along their profits to shareholders.

For years, activists and politicians