The Energy Transition and Divestment of Fossil Fuel Assets
Abstract: Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius will require a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. News sources declare that climate change mitigation pressures are increasing divestment of fossil fuel assets toward stakeholders with less transparency obligations, thereby hindering the realization of international climate goals. However, academic literature on divestment of physical fossil fuel assets in a climate-context is scarce. The current research is an explorative desk-study, aiming to investigate the relation between asset divestment and a just energy transition. The study employed a qualitative research approach, consisting of a news article content analysis, and analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews. The analyses provide supporting evidence for the proposed divestment trend: fossil fuel companies are motivated through climate related reasons to divest assets. This may increasingly shift asset ownership from IOCs toward private companies, private equity firms, and NOCs. The findings also support the notion that this divestment decreases overall transparency about operations and (future) greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel companies. Additionally, divestment may increase the risk of carbon leakage. Taken together, these findings indicate that current divestment trends have a negative impact on a just energy transition, specifically affecting distributional and restorative justice.