How to Make Fossil Fuels Cleaner

This has to be one of the silliest press release titles in recent weeks:

“Imperial College London and Royal Dutch Shell join forces to produce cleaner fossil fuels”

What are they planning to do, get down on their hands and knees scrub those coal seams and oil wells with some nice strong elbow grease?

Apparently, the title alludes to a meeting to be held on February 15, that will discuss ways to produce cleaner fossil fuels. What they are really hoping to get out of the meeting is not some new scrubber but the development of new processes that will “enhance extraction of difficult
hydrocarbons with minimal release of greenhouse gases.” Delegates will examine processes from the extraction stage through to downstream delivery of energy and chemicals to the consumer.

Fair enough, but clean or otherwise isn’t even the clean use of hydrocarbons going against the grain of greening up transport and industry and reducing our size 90 carbon footprints? Oh, hold on, it’s a Royal Dutch Shell (Oil) meeting…