The company wants to make its lubricant business less carbon intensive by improving the energy efficiency of its manufacturing facilities and is striving to reduce, reuse and recycle packaging across its lubricant supply chain, said Richard Jory, Shells vice president of lubricant supply chain.

Every industry has to do its part in developing cleaner ways of working, and this is part of our commitment to run a safe, efficient, responsible and profitable business, he said.

In recent years, Shell has often spoken of plans to improve energy efficiency at its plants and refineries, while reducing its carbon output.

Anna Golub, a spokesperson for Shell, told LubesnGreases. that Shells energy efficiency improvements are aimed at refineries and chemical plants, which consume large amounts of electricity. The companys plans include combining heat and power units and waste gas recovery systems.

In June, Shell greenlighted the installation of 76,000 photovoltaic solar panels at its chemical plant in Moerdijk, the Netherlands, one of its largest facilities. The plant, which produces base chemicals from naphtha, hydrowax, gasoil and liquefied petroleum gas, will have solar electricity generation capacity of 27 MW.

Panels are also slated for installation at Shells Nangang, Zhapu and Zhuhai plants in China; Indias Taloja facility; the Cisliano plant in Italy; and Switzerlands Bern facility.

Shell will install solar panels at several facilities in Singapore. Its Tuas plant will be fitted with more than 6,500 panels that are expected generate 3,330 MWh per year. The company estimated the panels will reduce Tuas annual carbon dioxide emissions by a third, the equivalent to taking 700 cars off the road. Installations are also planned for plants in Pandan and Jurong Island and are expected to begin in late 2019 and early 2020, respectively.

Shell is considering panels for its Pulau Bukom manufacturing site in Singapore. That plant processes 500,000 barrels of crude feedstock per day.

Finally, in Australia, the company is looking to install 400,000 panels at the QGC natural gas production facility in Queensland. They should generate about 120 MW, Golub said.

Shell may reap the cost benefits, but environmentalists are less than impressed with its green credentials.

Shells business plan still requires us to burn enough fossil fuels to bring about the collapse of civilization and the extinction of most life on Earth. By installing these solar panels they may delay that apocalypse by a minute or two, but stopping it is going to require a fundamental shift away from their core business, Rosie Rogers, head of climate for environmental group Greenpeace U.K., told LubesnGreases.