Oil giants are crashing
by Frank van Beuzekom
On 31 August 2020, ExxonMobil was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. That will leave Chevron as the only oil and gas firm in the Dow.
The once unbeatable oil companies are getting a beating worldwide. Since the beginning of the year, Total has lost 37% in stock value, BP 48%, and Shell a whopping 55%. The former giants might never resume their positions as the stable, untouchable players they once were.
Today’s demands for clean energy are accelerating and coming from all corners: activist shareholders, governments, the larger civil society, and the environment itself (see photo of San Francisco on top).
Coming back to my initial question: Can the oil giants be saved? The challenges are tremendous. It really comes down to innovating or dying. The good news is that the oil companies have the assets and the opportunity to turn the ship around.
Many companies associated with clean energy are thriving in the stock markets (see chart on the right). What a rally it has been! We might leave the conversation about the sustainability of some of these stocks for another day, but this rally indicates a shift in the kind of future investors believe in.
This article was first published in the weekly FightBack Newsletter. Subscribe here for regular inspiration on impactful corporate innovation
