Another Green Bubble Is Deflating in Biofuels: Javier Blas

The oil company declared its traditional business was all but over. “The demand for fossil oil products will continue to decline,” it said in late 2020 as the pandemic slashed consumption. Even when Covid-19 is over, consumption wouldn’t “recover to previous levels.”

The solution? Abandon fossil fuels and pivot to biofuels. That’s exactly what oil refiner Neste Oyj did. For a while, investors loved the shift: It was the peak of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) bubble, when money poured into anything with the slightest shade of green. The company’s market value roughly doubled to more than $60 billion ...