Investments as business power. Thirty years of oil majors' renewable energy acquisitions

Thesis

Investment decisions —in the form of acquisitions— are the main way incumbents access innovations in an economy. Yet, in the context of climate change and of emerging energy transitions, dominant incumbents like those in the fossil fuel industry have increased their acquisitions activity towards ’clean’ emerging tech- nologies. Using the case of European oil majors’ interest in renewable energy, this thesis problematises this type of investments and shows that their study uncovers at least three sources of power dominant incumbents hold towards emerging industries. First, the ability to acquire allows incumbents access to means of decision-making towards the advancement and delay of emerging technologies. Second, through the ownership of ’clean’ assets incumbents’ are able to set the terms of their role in innovation and in sustainable transitions. Third, acquisitions in emerging technologies give incumbents the ability to benefit from transition policies without being noticed and without questions. For showing this, this the- sis presents a unique and original database of acquisitions manually classified by their type of technology that spans over thirty years of European oil majors’ financial transactions. The thesis shows in three substantive chapters how acquisitions in ’clean’ emerging technologies buy oil majors’ a role in the energy transition.

Authors: Pierard, EC

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-kkmazojod
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: energy transitions; oil industry; M&A; sustainable investments
• Subjects: Financial geography; Clean energy investment; Business studies; Economic geography