Amid record-breaking heat in Europe and the United Kingdom that has already killed hundreds, a company Twitter account for Shell, a global oil and gas company, offered advice Monday on how to beat the heat — and received some backlash online .
“No A/C? No sweat. Here are our tips for keeping cool (and saving energy) when it’s hot outside,” Tweet says.
“Your company is one of the main reasons we’re in this situation,” one Twitter user said has written.
No air conditioning? No sweat. Here are our tips for keeping cool (and saving energy) when it’s hot outside. ☀️ https://t.co/2xw0D57Gw8 pic.twitter.com/HldFxFGOTo
— Shell Energy (@ShellEnergyHome) July 18, 2022
The tweet links to a blog about how to stay cool and use less energy at home, such as closing curtains or air-drying clothes.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the company’s Tweet had over 300 tweets with quotes and over 200 replies — not a good ratio. Most of the account’s other recent Tweets have three or four likes and replies.
Another one of those tweeters RECALLING a 2018 Guardian article discussed a 1988 Shell memo in which the company predicted that rising CO2 in the atmosphere would eventually lead to environmental disaster, from the loss of animal and plant species to rising of the sea.
Last May, a Dutch court ruled that Shell can be held responsible for its carbon emissions. A 2022 article examined promises by Shell and other oil companies to transition to clean energy through financial analysis to determine if it was actually happening. It was published online in PLoS ONE, an open access journal.
“The financial analysis reveals a continued dependence of the business model on fossil fuels along with trivial and obscure clean energy spending,” the authors write.
Shell in March reported its highest quarterly profit since 2008 amid rising gas prices, CNBC reported.
Other power companies, such as ConEdison, have issued warnings ahead of heat waves. But the advice from Shell, amid the growing summer heat, seemed to strike a chord.
“Honestly, he was brave of this Tweet,” another person has written.
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said last week that power rationing in Europe amid the heat wave was possible, according to the BBC. The United Kingdom faced a record temperature of 104.5 degrees on Tuesday linked to climate change, according to the Associated Press.
A Shell representative declined to comment. Its website says it plans to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.
