New York (AFP)

The oil giant Chevron announced on Tuesday that it wanted to triple spending to reduce its emissions and develop energies less polluting than black gold, without really convincing activists who demanded more frank action against climate change.

The group plans to spend $ 10 billion by 2028 to decrease the carbon intensity of its operations, increase energy production from non-fossil resources and capture carbon.

"We believe that climate change is real and that human activity, including the use of fossil fuels, is contributing to it," Group CEO Mike Wirth said at the start of a presentation on the "energy transition. "from Chevron.

"We believe that the future of energy will be low carbon and intend to be a leader" in this sector, he added.

Like its competitor ExxonMobil, Chevron was jostled at the end of May by its shareholders, who notably asked that the company reduce the indirect greenhouse gas emissions of its products.

The author of this resolution said he was "satisfied to see that Chevron finally agrees to talk about the energy transition" and "to increase its investments in energies releasing less carbon emissions".

"But it is very far from being sufficient," said Mark van Baal of the NGO Follow This to AFP.

The investments proposed by Chevron - on average $ 1.4 billion per year theoretically - represent less than 10% of the expenses that the group plans to make each year to develop ($ 15 to 17 billion from 2022 to 2025 ).

And the company continues for the moment to pump more and more hydrocarbons.

For the NGO Earthworks, which filed a complaint in March with the American competition authority accusing Chevron of exaggerating its environmental initiatives, the group is simply continuing its "greenwashing".

"The problem is that their broadcasts are actually continuing to increase," the organization said on Twitter.

- 'Prioritize action over promises' -

Chevron wants to spend $ 3 billion on carbon capture and carbon offsetting projects, as well as $ 3 billion on non-fossil fuels and renewable natural gas, made from the decomposition of organic residues.

The group also plans to spend $ 2 billion for hydrogen and $ 2 billion to reduce the carbon intensity of its operations (ratio between its CO2 emissions and the company's production).

During a 90-minute presentation, several officials described in detail some projects, such as a partnership with the Bunge trading house on the supply of agricultural materials, and some tools to help reduce emissions, such as the use of satellites to locate methane leaks.

"By committing to increase its production of renewable natural gas to 0.001% of its natural gas production and its production of renewable fuels to 7% of its refinery production by 2030, Chevron is unlikely to succeed in convincing investors that it takes the climate seriously ", reacted on Twitter Andrew Logan, of the environmental NGO Ceres.

The group does not plan to launch into solar or wind energy and has not committed, like TotalEnergies and BP, to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

The boss, Mike Wirth, takes on some of those choices.

Faced with "poor stock market performance" and "the expectation of an energy transition", companies in the sector are presenting various strategies, he stressed.

Chevron, for its part, wishes to remain "consistent" with its activities.

The group is not looking, for example, to sell solar energy because it is not its original business and the sector is already well supplied, he said.

And on the broadcasts, "we favored action over promises," he said during a briefing with journalists.

Chevron prefers for now to focus on the current decade to reduce its emissions, while waiting for the arrival of new technologies and new policies that will allow it to go further.

"We have to be concerned about meeting the current needs of the energy system and the economy while trying to build a different system for the future," Wirth said.

"We're trying to do both."

© 2021 AFP