Royal Dutch Shell wants oil refiners to be given CO2 emission permits for free in the next phase of the European Union's CO2 emissions trading scheme but is happy for most other sectors to be charged.
Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer told the World Petroleum Congress that the crude refining, chemicals and paper industries should be exempt from proposals to charge businesses for emitting CO2, because they would otherwise be at a disadvantage against rivals in the US and Asia.
However, he supports the idea of other sectors being charged as a means to fight climate change.
Van der Veer was also sceptical of the EU proposal, subject to other regions making commitments on CO2 cuts, to raise its target for cutting CO2 emissions to 30% by 2020, from the current target of 20% by that date.
He said the plan risked Europe getting stuck "half-way between a daydream and a nightmare".
By Tom Bergin, Reuters
