May 22 (Reuters) - The world's fossil fuel reserves cannotbe burned unless some way is found to capture their carbonemissions, Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief ExecutiveOfficer Ben van Beurden said on Friday.
In an interview published in Britain's Guardian newspaper,Van Beurden forecast that global energy use would produce "zerocarbon" by the end of the century, and that his group would geta "very large segment" of its earnings from renewable power.
The interview came a day after Van Beurden slammed as a "redherring" calls to divest from energy companies as part of thefight against climate change, in particular the "Keep it in theGround" campaign led by the Guardian.
"We cannot burn all the hydrocarbon resources we have on theplanet in an unmitigated way and not expect to have a CO2loading in the atmosphere that is often being linked to the 2Cscenario," Van Beurden said. He was referring to studies thatthe climate could warm by 2 degrees centigrade or more by theend of the century if fossil fuels continue to be burned.
"I am absolutely convinced that without a policy that willreally enable and realize CCS (carbon capture and storage) on alarge scale, we are not going to be able to stay within that CO2emission budget," he added.
Referring to the sometimes emotional opposition to Shell'sdecision to drill exploration wells this summer in the AlaskanArctic, he said the decision was taken on rational grounds andthat the technical risks had been assessed.
Environmental activists in Seattle have tried to hamper theAnglo-Dutch company's rigs from entering the port en route tothe Chukchi Sea off Alaska, saying drilling in the remote Arcticwaters could lead to an ecological catastrophe. (Reporting by Aurindom Mukherjee in Bengaluru. Editing by AndreGrenon)