Putting Big Oil's green spending in context

An International Energy Agency report puts some context around how much the world's largest oil companies are investing in clean energy.

The big picture: The chart above shows the combined investments of a collection of roughly 20 giants, including Shell, Exxon and BP, but also state-controlled companies like Saudi Aramco and China National Petroleum Corp.

• The data, part of a much wider IEA report last week, shows that investments are growing but still remain a small share of the companies' total capital spending. (H/t to Bloomberg for flagging this section.)

Why it matters: There's growing investor, activist and legal pressure on oil giants to act more aggressively on climate change and diversify more quickly.

• The trend was starkly apparent on a single day in late May, when activist investors thwarted Exxon management to install several new board members and a Dutch court ordered Shell to cut emissions faster.

The intrigue: While the oil industry's overall capital spending outside core fossil fuel lines remains a small share, the European majors are increasing it more quickly.

• The IEA report notes that BP plans to increase annual clean energy investment to $3-$4 billion by 2025, while Shell is "is targeting a 25% share of investment on clean energy capital expenditure by 2025."