Oil company Shell is not doing nearly enough to comply with the ruling in the climate case that Milieudefensie won in 2021. The company still does not have a good reduction plan for the lion’s share of CO2 emissions, says the environmental organization.
Two years ago, the court obliged Shell to reduce its global emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2019. That was a groundbreaking ruling. It was the first time that a judge had imposed a climate policy on a company in this way. Shell appealed. That procedure is still ongoing.
Shell’s most recent annual report contains plans to reduce its own emissions by 50 percent. This concerns the CO2 that is released on oil platforms, in the refineries and in other activities of Shell.
But 95 percent of Shell’s emissions come from the combustion of the gas and oil that the company extracts from the ground and sells. The court imposed a “considerable effort obligation” on the group to also reduce these emissions. Shell acknowledges that emissions must go to zero by 2050, but has not formulated any interim targets for the next 27 years.
“That is an insult to the court,” says campaigner Nine de Pater. “And it is a slap in the face to people who are already dealing with the consequences of the climate crisis on a daily basis. The helm at Shell really needs to change now.”
Most of the money still goes to oil and gas
Milieudefensie points out in a new report that the vast majority of Shell’s investments still go to fossil fuels. The company is looking for new oil and gas fields, and spends more on them than on green initiatives such as solar and wind farms.
The kersverse Shell-CEO Wael Sawan said recently that it is “unhealthy” to cut oil and gas production. According to the CEO, the world economy still needs a lot of fossil fuels and lower production would only lead to price increases.
By keeping oil and gas production high, Shell’s policy is not in line with the Paris climate agreement, says Milieudefensie. Also a recent one rapport of Carbon Tracker came to that conclusion. Researchers from that organization also pointed to the lack of emission targets towards 2050 and the ongoing search for new oil and gas fields.
Shell will hold its annual shareholders’ meeting in London next week. The Father of Milieudefensie wants to address the top of the oil company there again about its obligations.
2023-05-14 22:04:06
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