TotalEnergies and Iraq agree to a $27bn deal

BEING AN OIL-INDUSTRY boss is an exercise in displeasing all sides. Pumping hydrocarbons out of the ground is lucrative, but angers environmentalists—including those sitting in boardrooms and governments. Renewables and other green projects are more palatable, but often fail to woo investors. TotalEnergies this week showed one way to straddle the divide.On September 5th the French oil major signed an agreement with the government of Iraq to invest $27bn there over 25 years. The money will go to projects from the virtuous (a big solar farm) to the carbon-spewing (expanding an existing oilfield). One scheme will capture natural gas burned off as a by-product of oil extraction and use it to make less grubby electricity.