New Shell Chief Disagrees with Harper

In an interview in today's Guardian, the new head of Royal Dutch Shell, Ron Oxburg, has declared his concerns over the threat of climate change to the world environment.

"No one can be comfortable at the prospect of continuing to pump out the amounts of carbon dioxide that we are at present," he says. "People are going to go on allowing this atmospheric carbon dioxide to build up, with consequences that we really can't predict, but are probably not good."

He believes the solution is something called sequestration, in which carbon dioxide from cars and power stations is captured and stored. "Sequestration is difficult," he says. "But if we don't have sequestration I see very little hope for the world." (click here for the full article)

Those paying attention to the oil industry worldwide already know Shell has had to reduce its estimate of its oil reserves a number of times, which has led to the removal of much of its top management and a drop in the value of its shares.

That the new chairman of Shell, one of the largest oil companies in the world, would come out so strongly in support of climate change science is probably a shock within the oil industry, an industry which has steadfastly resisted the conclusions of that science.

How this connects to the Canadian election is simple. Stephen Harper has made it clear that he would opt out of Kyoto. He has also repeatedly asserted his disbelief in the science of climate change, and the possible harm the immense amounts of carbon dioxide the world is pumping into the air will do to planet.

Now with even some heads of oil companies coming out in support of climate change science, I think voters should be again asking themselves just how wise Harper's plans are. Is it worth risking the planet to simply enable the leader of the Conservatives to please the Canadian oil industry, to which Harper has historic ties?