State-owned energy companies are among the world’s most polluting – putting a price on carbon could help
Existing measures to cajole companies to decarbonise, with subsidies for renewable energy and carbon taxes, have failed to prevent global emissions rising. Does state ownership, particularly in the energy sector, make this process easier?
State-owned energy firms that search for, produce and refine fossil fuels are among the most polluting organisations in the world. But because governments have a big say in how they operate, it might be considered easier for their emissions to be rapidly phased out by treating them as extensions of the government, without needing to rely on the incentives, fines or sanctions usually necessary to make private firms act.
So far, however, things have not proved to be so simple.
A blessing or a curse?
When it comes to climate change, ownership of a polluting company creates a dilemma for a government. On the one hand, state-owned firms are better equipped to bear the costs of decarbonisation as they can draw from a tax base (a more reliable revenue source) to subsidise green measures.
But ownership of a polluting, state-owned firm also creates conflicting incentives within and across different branches of a government. Some ministries may rely on the income generated from these industries (such as the Saudi Arabian Oil Group) to finance public services or support pensions. Other ministries, perhaps responsible for environmental protection, will be tasked with curtailing the activities of these firms to cut pollution.
This conflict indicates that state-owned firms are not simply “instruments of the state” that can be easily directed to cut emissions quickly. The ability of governments to use state-owned firms to tackle climate change depends on various governance issues within the state bureaucracy.
Governments attempting to reform state-owned entities can face resistance from various stakeholders – ranging from the workers and managers of these firms to the users of subsidised services, who may object to higher tariffs to fund a transition to renewable energy.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2023 QS World University Rankings – the seventh year running – and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2023, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
Existing measures to cajole companies to decarbonise, with subsidies for renewable energy and carbon taxes, have failed to prevent global emissions rising. Does state ownership, particularly in the energy sector, make this process easier?
State-owned energy firms that search for, produce and refine fossil fuels are among the most polluting organisations in the world. But because governments have a big say in how they operate, it might be considered easier for their emissions to be rapidly phased out by treating them as extensions of the government, without needing to rely on the incentives, fines or sanctions usually necessary to make private firms act.
So far, however, things have not proved to be so simple.
A blessing or a curse?
When it comes to climate change, ownership of a polluting company creates a dilemma for a government. On the one hand, state-owned firms are better equipped to bear the costs of decarbonisation as they can draw from a tax base (a more reliable revenue source) to subsidise green measures.
But ownership of a polluting, state-owned firm also creates conflicting incentives within and across different branches of a government. Some ministries may rely on the income generated from these industries (such as the Saudi Arabian Oil Group) to finance public services or support pensions. Other ministries, perhaps responsible for environmental protection, will be tasked with curtailing the activities of these firms to cut pollution.
This conflict indicates that state-owned firms are not simply “instruments of the state” that can be easily directed to cut emissions quickly. The ability of governments to use state-owned firms to tackle climate change depends on various governance issues within the state bureaucracy.
Governments attempting to reform state-owned entities can face resistance from various stakeholders – ranging from the workers and managers of these firms to the users of subsidised services, who may object to higher tariffs to fund a transition to renewable energy.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2023 QS World University Rankings – the seventh year running – and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2023, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
