International Oil Companies' Responses and Motivations to Climate Change

To adapt to global climate governance changes, international oil companies' (IOCs) response to climate change and low-carbon development went through four stages. In 1960-1988, the stage of common cognition, when research on climate change in the oil and gas industry was conducted, efforts were made to reduce environmental pollution caused by harmful emissions; new energy sources and energy-saving measures were developed to deal with the oil crisis. In 1989-1997, the stage of common defense, when the interests of enterprises were protected by influencing government policy-making from industry organizations, and low-carbon technologies were developed to cope with the climate issues. In 1998-2019, the stage of convergent consensus, when the oil and gas industry converged to the global consensus on climate governance, European oil companies were actively promoting energy transition, while American oil companies carefully adjusted their climate strategies. In 2020 and forward, the stage of co-construction, when European oil companies set on the path of the radical low-carbon energy transition, and American oil companies adopted conservative transition strategies. The analysis shows that there are four common motivations for European and American international oil companies to choose climate response strategies, including corporate profit and shareholder interests, national strategy and government-enterprise relationship, public opinion and brand value, industry convergence and external cooperation.