China, the world's biggest car market, plans to ban the production and sale of diesel and petrol cars and vans. The country's vice industry minister said it had started "relevant research" but that it had not yet decided when the ban would come into force. "Those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry's development," Xin Guobin told Xinhua, China's official news agency China made 28 million cars last year, almost a third of the global total. Both the UK and France have already announced plans to ban new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040, as part of efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. Chinese-owned carmaker Volvo said in July that all its new car models would have an electric motor from 2019.
China looks at plans to ban petrol and diesel cars - BBC News
Five of the world’s six largest listed oil companies risk wasting more than 30% of possible spending on upstream projects that are high-cost and surplus to supply needs in a 2⁰C world, with Exxon Mobil most exposed, warns a new report by Carbon Tracker produced collaboratively with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and institutional investors. It is the first report to rank the oil and gas industry company by company and identify where shareholders’ money could be most exposed to the low-carbon transition, and it finds that $2.3 trillion of projects — roughly a third of business-as-usual investment to 2025 – is inconsistent with international objectives to limit climate change to a maximum of 2⁰C and rapid advances in clean technologies reducing demand. 2 Degrees of Separation analyses upstream investment plans of 68 of the largest publicly traded oil companies plus Saudi Aramco up to 2025 and reveals wide variations between companies. Exxon is more exposed to the energy transition than any other oil and gas major with 40% to 50% of capex allocated to uneconomic projects. Shell,Chevron, Total and Eni all have around average exposure, risking 30% to 40% of spending. BP has less, with 20% to 30% at risk.
Top executives for a major U.S. refiner said recently that the company’s future will be in petrochemicals rather than transportation fuels. Independent refiner Phillips 66 argues that while demand for gasoline in the U.S. will grind lower, the need for petrochemicals to make plastics will continue to rise at a rapid clip and become an even greater priority for downstream actors and producers. “The Middle East and U.S. Gulf Coast are going to be the two best places in the world to make petrochemicals, long-term,” said Chief Executive Greg Garland. “In 10 years, if we’re driving the same, we’re going to see less need for transportation fuel. Given that as a backdrop, you don’t want to invest in adding capacity in a declining market.”
The Fuse | Strong Growth in Petchem Demand Alters Long-Term Dynamics in Global Oil Market - The Fuse