“There is not one template for all energy companies to follow. A dogmatic approach to 'more renewable energy at any price' is not the solution.” says APG's Thijs Knaap in the Business program on BNR Nieuwsradio in response to news that Shell failed to meet its climate targets last year. “We will continue to discuss the energy transition and climate policy with Shell, and how Shell is making concrete arrangements for achieving climate neutrality. And we will continue to follow Shell closely and critically on the path to energy transition.”
Knaap, chief economist at APG, regularly joins the Zakendoen investor panel. In today's broadcast, he also discusses China's desire for President Biden to cut trade tariffs. “In policy there is sometimes a gap between idea and implementation. Trump's idea of seeing China as an adversary was sensible in some way, but the implementation was chaotic and yielded little. Biden has largely the same idea, but a different implementation.”, He says in conversation with presenter Thomas van Zijl and panel member Martine Hafkamp.
Lower dividends are also discussed. Knaap: “No problem. It is no surprise that it was a bad year and that little profit was made. Much more important: survive the year and then just continue paying dividends. ”