CERA's Daniel Yergin has come out swinging in favor of tougher emissions mandates and stronger government support for renewable energy. Speaking at the 2008 National Governors Association Winter Meeting Yergin said "all participants in the global energy business, from traditional firms such as electric power companies and oil and gas companies to new entrants" are playing a role in shaping the greentech field. What is left, according to Yergin, is for governments to get behind these efforts, a move that will bring in the bigger players. But we can really rely on the big guns to boost greentech even with government mandates? As I pointed out last week, BP's Tony Hayward has set out on a new strategy to cut virtually all of the company's renewable energy projects. Despite lofty goals in the UK and EU, BP has decided leveraging the high price of fossil fuels is the only way for it regain it's past revenues. Kyoto be damned. Chevron has hemmed and hawed on a biodiesel plant to nowhere in Galveston Bay, eventually landing itself in litigation after virtually abandoning its investment obligations. Royal Dutch Shell, through its Shell Springboard organization, gives out $80,000 awards to energy innovators. That's enough to rent out decent office space and post some press releases. Yergin is, as the WSJ points out, "as close as it gets to a proxy for conventional wisdom within Big Oil." By all appearances, though, conventional wisdom for Big Oil seems to be falling towards the back of the class. Maybe Yergin's waiting around for Hayward, Tillerson, O'Reilly, and the rest to come through with some big acquisitions. Maybe. In any case, actions speak louder than words, and the things I'm hearing from Yergin sound kind of moldy.