Chevron Retreats on Clean Energy After Renewables Hit 20% Margin

In January, employees of Chevron’s renewable power group, whose mission was to create large, profitable clean-energy projects, dined at San Francisco’s trendy Sens restaurant. Managers applauded them for almost doubling their projected profit in 2013, the group’s first full year of operations.

The mood quickly turned somber. Despite the financial results and the team’s role in helping start more than a half-dozen solar and geothermal projects capable of powering at least 65,000 homes, managers told the group that funding for the effort would dry up, and encouraged staffers to find jobs elsewhere, say four people who attended the dinner, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its June 2 issue.