Shell CEO Bags $11 Million for a Year of Declining Profits and Climate Damage

Wael Sawan gets a raise for overseeing a 16% drop in profit. Meanwhile, the planet’s on fire, and Shell’s investors couldn’t be happier.

Ah, capitalism — where performance is optional, but payouts are guaranteed. Just ask Wael Sawan, Shell’s CEO and proud captain of the SS Planet-Burner, who just walked away with a cool £8.6 million ($11.1 million) pay package for 2024.

That’s up from £7.9 million the year before — because nothing screams “well done” like a 16% drop in profit.

Let’s review the numbers, shall we? Shell reported $23.7 billion in profit for 2024 — down from the year before thanks to (gasp) weaker oil and gas prices and a slight dip in demand. But don’t worry! The board wasn’t going to let something like reality get in the way of a good bonus.

To soothe the nerves of carbon-addicted shareholders, Shell raised its dividend by 4% and extended its share buyback programme. Because apparently the only thing more sacred than Earth’s climate is shareholder yield.

Who Is Wael Sawan, Anyway?

If you’ve never heard of Wael Sawan, congratulations — your blood pressure is probably better than ours. But here’s what you need to know:

•He took over as CEO of Shell in January 2023 and wasted no time shifting into reverse on the company’s half-hearted clean energy transition.

•His strategy? Cut costs, slash jobs, and double down on oil and gas, while paying lip service to net-zero targets Shell has no credible path to meet.

•He famously claimed that cutting fossil fuel production would be “dangerous and irresponsible.” You know what is dangerous and irresponsible, Wael? Continuing to extract and burn hydrocarbons like it’s 1985.

Under his watch, Shell has walked back on climate targets, abandoned most of its retail clean power business, and pledged allegiance to LNG and oil as its “core strengths” — a euphemism for “we’re not done making money off planetary collapse.”

Investors: Still Clapping From the Back

And who’s funding this spectacle? Say hello (again) to BlackRock, Vanguard, and other institutional titans who love to talk ESG while pouring billions into companies like Shell. Because nothing says “climate leadership” like bankrolling the oil industry’s most polished greenwasher.

Shell’s share price is doing just fine, thank you very much — helped along by reduced investment in renewable energy, increased cash flow from fossil fuels, and enough buybacks to make a hedge fund blush. That’s music to the ears of investors who care more about Q4 than 1.5°C.

Meanwhile, in the Real World…

While Sawan is getting richer:

•Shell’s emissions remain among the highest of any company on Earth.

•Climate scientists are warning we’re on track for 2.5–3°C of warming.

•And countries across the Global South are already facing the consequences of a system Shell helped build and still refuses to change.

But sure — let’s give the CEO a raise.

The Bottom Line

Wael Sawan isn’t being rewarded for solving the energy crisis or accelerating the energy transition. He’s being rewarded for protecting Shell’s status quo — keeping the oil pumping, the profits flowing, and the PR machine spinning.

So here’s to another year of record-breaking hypocrisy, investor-approved destruction, and executive bonuses that go up no matter what direction the planet goes.

Because at Shell, the only green that matters is cash.

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