Royal Dutch Shell PLC shows much that is wrong with environmental, social and governance investing. The Anglo-Dutch company was the first to target reduced carbon emissions from customers, has gone further than any of the other oil supermajors to shift its direction away from fossil fuels and is closest of any of them to meeting the Paris carbon target. It even has a better ESG score than electric-car leader Tesla or hydrogen wonder stock Plug Power.
The result? Shell has been rewarded with a stubbornly low market valuation, is shunned by the increasing number of big money managers that have rejected oil investment outright and was the target of a successful lawsuit ordering it to reduce emissions.
