State-owned Norwegian oil, gas and renewables company Equinor has a new chief executive, with Anders Opedal taking over from the retiring Eldar Saetre, who served for six years. Equinor’s chairman, Jon Erik, has identified Mr Opedal’s task as further developing the company as “a force in the green shift” during a period of significant change, and Mr Opedal himself has said that he was confident Equinor could “continue creating long-term value for our shareholders also in a low-carbon future”. With other major oil and gas companies setting 2050 net-zero carbon targets (for its products and operations) in the last year, it may be that Equinor will soon follow suit, broadening and deepening its current goals of net-zero from its operations and halving the carbon intensity of the energy it produces by 2050. Mr Opedal’s more immediate challenge, however, will be to guide the company through the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic.