Shell Lobbies Dutch Gov't to Boost Offshore Wind Target

Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell said it has urged the Dutch government to come up with bolder offshore wind targets and quadruple the goal for installed capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2030.

Europe's biggest oil company, which has traditionally invested little in green energy sources, is ramping up renewable energy investments to $1 billion a year by the end of the decade after pressure from shareholders to do so and as it sees governments turning to less carbon intensive and more flexible fuels, Reuters reported.

Some of its recent activities in renewable energy include winning a contract, as part of a consortium, to build a wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands and bidding for an offshore wind license in the United States.

In the Netherlands, where it is by far the largest listed company, it is lobbying the government to raise its long-term offshore wind target to give investors clarity on priorities further out.

"We need to lower the costs of development, but we would also want the Dutch government to come up with the policy for a further rollout of 10-15 GW in capacity for the period until 2030," said a spokeswoman for Shell in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is lagging other European countries in renewable energy investments and was ordered by a district court in The Hague in 2015 to cut carbon emissions by 25% within five years after losing a court case brought by environmental campaigners. The government has since launched a program to speed up renewable energy projects, including tenders to build 4.5 GW of offshore wind farm capacity.

As part of a group of the Netherlands' largest companies, Shell has called on policymakers making up the next Dutch government to adopt a comprehensive climate law that will help the country meet targets set out in the 2015 Paris climate accord.