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Europe’s Oil Giants Slow Green Goals and Act More Like Exxon

  • Russia’s war in Ukraine shifted focus to energy security
  • Companies criticized for neglecting short-term climate goals
TotalEnergies’ oil refinery in Donges, France, on Jan. 20.

TotalEnergies’ oil refinery in Donges, France, on Jan. 20.

Photographer: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images

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Big Oil is fashionable again in London and Paris. 

After a year of record profits, Europe’s supermajors are shifting their focus back to fossil fuel production despite the implications for their pledges to reduce CO2 emissions. It’s an approach already familiar to American giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., whose vision of the future has always stayed close to their oily core.