How the energy crisis is hurting the green transition of Big Oil: “Climate-conscious” fund managers may become a little less climate-conscious thanks to surging energy stocks. Divesting from fossil fuel companies was easy in the years when their stocks were struggling. Now doing the right thing means missing out on the 54% rebound in the S&P 500’s energy sector this year, far and away the biggest gain of any sector in the US benchmark index. Drawn by the highest US crude-oil prices in seven years, some investors are ready to exchange their principles for energy stocks, the Wall Street Journal reports. “It is a test of your conviction,” one financial services exec told the paper. “It’s hard not to ride the wave when you see a [chance].”

How is this being played out with the world’s largest oil company? Saudi Aramco aims to reach net-zero emissions from its operations by 2050, the company’s CEO Amin Nasser announced on Saturday, according to Bloomberg. Nasser also announced plans to invest in renewable energy, including solar, wind and blue and green hydrogen. That said, the company will continue to invest in its crude production capacity, with plans to increase its investments in gas, Nasser said at the Saudi Green Initiative conference in Riyadh.

So how’s this supposed to work? The target only applies to its own internal operations and NOT its actual business. Meaning, they’ll continue to invest and sell oil and gas to customers (perpetuating the climate crisis) but, hey, at least its offices will be “green”. The pledges come ahead of COP26, which is due to kick off next week.

Did we really imagine something different? The world’s largest oil and gas companies aren’t actually doing much to reduce their carbon footprint, according to a policy forum piece, with only two of the 52 companies studied having established science-based climate targets. The authors, who also looked at emission intensities or CO2 emissions from operations and use by customers, which combined make up the biggest contributor to emissions, noted that “only 23 of the companies listed numbers for customer use.” A little over half of the 52 companies had released future emission intensity projections, with the estimates having “unambitious goals.”

The kingdom’s green plans sound more like an actual transition: Saudi Arabia will shift operations in a large part of a USD 110 bn gas field to produce blue hydrogen instead, Energy Minister Abdulaziz Bin Salman said at the conference, according to Bloomberg.