Shell last week said developed countries should be well down the road towards the target of zero emission transport systems by 2050.


Tan Chong Meng, Shell's executive vice president for B2B and Lubricants, made the statement as he took part in a panel on "Energy, Climate and Transport Scenarios" at Michelin's Challenge Bibendum sustainable mobility conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"The consensus reached at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen was that the limit beyond which climate change becomes unmanageable is a two-degree increase above pre-industrial levels," he said. "This, surely, must be society's objective."

He added that the development and uptake of new technologies is a big part of the challenge: "Shell's research found that in the twentieth century, it took 30 years for new energy types to capture 1 percent of the market due to the time it takes to hone production methods and build sufficient human and industrial capacity. It should in principle be possible to speed up the deployment of new technology, but this requires government support. With the two-degree objective in mind, countries must use all economic, regulatory and educational levers at their disposal."

Chong Meng acknowledged that industry, too, has a key role to play. "As one of the world's largest transport fuel and lubricant providers, we are doing what we can to help customers use less fuel and emit less today," he said. "We are calling our strategic response to the challenge of sustainable transport 'smarter mobility'."

Smarter mobility comprises a range of innovations in three key areas: smarter products, smarter use and smarter infrastructure, and Shell has been introducing products and services under this umbrella both for consumers and commercial fleets.

"By focusing on delivering smarter fuels and lubricants for our customers and promoting more efficient use of resources, incremental improvements can be achieved which amount to a significant impact at scale and over time."