Time for fuel giant to give back a little
I am writing concerning Shell's recent rejection of the Government's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) proposal. Their argument is essentially a financial one, which strikes me as typical of a company which has money and greed ingrained in its very roots.
While hiding behind a facade of environmental concern, one finds its 'commitment to high standards of health, safety and environmental performance' (quoted from Shell's Hong Kong Web page) largely unsubstantiated. Recent events in Hong Kong would seem to back this up.
It is frightening when one contemplates how much power these multi-national corporations wield and the limited accountability that they enjoy. Within that framework, however, they have to undertake certain responsibilities.
A short-term economic approach does not match a long-term environmental one, as it is ultimately the environment that sustains us. Perhaps it is time for Shell to give something back to Hong Kong, having reaped billions of dollars of profits from it over the past 86 years.
The Hong Kong governmental stance is a reflection of the wants of the public. There is an evident need and desire to improve the pollution problem, particularly vehicle emissions. LPG conversion for taxis, as in Japan, would be a first step towards attaining this goal.
Certain logistical problems are inevitable, but a genuine desire (on Shell's behalf) to achieve those aims, coupled with public enthusiasm and no shortage of capital, should cast such problems aside. I find it audacious for a company, which in the first quarter of 2000 reported US$3.3 billion (about HK$25.7 billion) in earnings, to pose as the financial victim when it is the aggressor.
It is time to stop accepting things that have adverse effects on our lives and start reacting.
Shell's failure to take up the LPG cause in Hong Kong proves that it is not the ecological upholder that it pretends to be.
Its relationship with the environmental cause has always been strategic. Money is the beating heart of Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies.
ALISTAIR CHALMERS Hong Kong Island
