Phasing out fossil fuel is a crucial step to address the climate emergency. But to do so will mean facing not only political and economic obstacles, but legal ones. Fossil fuel companies can use domestic and international laws to demand compensation for bans on fossil fuels or prohibitions on the extraction of oil or coal. The legal system can make our collective transition to a green economy easier, or more difficult; among other things, it can increase the bill we pay for a healthy environment. Like big tobacco, big oil can and will litigate. This legal question becomes especially serious because companies like Shell and Exxon-Mobil can bring cases to a jurisdiction that they contributed to creating in the first place – a forum specially fit for their purposes. read more

Oil And Coal Firms Guilty Of ‘Great Deception’ Through Greenwashing, Say Climate Lawyers

A team of U.K. lawyers today released what they say is new evidence showing that the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies are systematically “greenwashing” their image to make the public believe they are taking concrete steps to combat climate change. In reality, the lawyers say, the firms are committed to increasing the sale of fossil fuels, which will inevitably generate more greenhouse gas emissions. read more

Shell says electric vehicles will be crucial in its efforts to lower carbon emissions

• Electric vehicles will play a critical role in Royal Dutch Shell’s decarbonizing efforts – opening up opportunities in this mobility sector, according to a senior executive at the oil giant.
• Huibert Vigeveno, downstream director at Shell, says the company intends to expand its global EV charging stations network worldwide, pledging to have 2.5 million charging points by 2030.

Electric vehicles will play a critical role in Royal Dutch Shell’s efforts to cut emissions, according to a senior executive at the oil giant.

“If you look at the decarbonization opportunities of this mobility sector, EV plays a crucial role,” said Huibert Vigeveno, downstream director at Shell, adding that the company intends to expand its global electric vehicle charging stations network worldwide. read more

Shell To Exhaust Dwindling Oil & Gas Reserves By 2040

By Tsvetana Paraskova – Apr 15, 2021, 3:00 PM CDT

Shell expects to have produced 75 percent of its current proved oil and gas reserves by 2030, and only around 3 percent after 2040, the supermajor said in its Energy Transition Strategy that it will put to a non-binding shareholder vote next month.

Discussing the risk of stranded assets in the energy transition, Shell said that every year it tests its oil and gas portfolio under different scenarios, including prolonged low oil prices, and cross-references assets with break-even prices to assess if they would still be viable in case of low oil and gas prices. read more

Shell plays down risk of stranded oil and gas reserves

The disclosure is a rare admission by a major oil and gas company that some of its reserves may be worthless in a world shifting to renewable energy from fossil fuels in an effort to stem global warming.

The Anglo-Dutch company said in a document to investors summarising its climate strategy that around 75% of its proved oil and gas reserves will be produced by 2030, with an additional 3% produced after 2040.

Since late 2019, Shell has wiped out over $20 billion from the value of its oil and gas reserves after lowering the outlook for commodity prices because of the energy transition and the impact on demand of the COVID-19 pandemic. read more

Shell Urges Shareholders to Reject Activist Climate Plan

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s board has urged shareholders to reject a climate resolution filed by Dutch activist investor Follow This in favor of its own energy transition plan, which the company will put to a vote next month.

The Anglo-Dutch major said that the Follow This resolution, which asks Shell to set and publish targets consistent with the goals of the Paris climate agreement, is “redundant” given its own “more comprehensive strategy,” according to a company notice. read more

Shell flags shrinking oil, gas reserves life in energy transition document for shareholders

• author Robert Perkins 
• Editor Jonathan Fox 

HIGHLIGHTS

Two-thirds of proved reserves to be produced by 2040

Comes amid rising concerns over future asset write-offs

Shell expects oil production to slide by 1-2% in coming years

London — Shell expects to have produced about two-thirds of its existing oil and gas reserves over the next two decades, the company said April 15, highlighting its falling exposure to future oil prices as the major shifts focus to renewable energy and electricity supplies. read more

Shell to Let Shareholders Vote on Shift to Cleaner Energy

By Sarah McFarlane: April 15, 2021 9:05 am ET

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC detailed a first-of-a-kind shareholder vote over its pivot away from oil, asking investors to endorse its energy transition strategy in a nonbinding vote next month.

While environmental groups have long put forward climate-related resolutions at annual shareholder meetings, Shell’s move is the first by an oil major to set up a regular review of its progress in moving away from oil. read more

Shell threatens to leave US trade groups over climate disagreements

The Netherlands-based oil major took aim at the American Petroleum Institute, the Texas Oil & Gas Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pushing them to support and advocate for climate policies in line with the Paris climate agreement. The 2015 agreement aims to limit the rise in the average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Shell’s move reassessing its trade group memberships comes as the European oil giant moves from its longtime fossil fuels business to meet its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. read more

Shell Plans To Double Down On Strengths As A Retailer In New Net-Zero World

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050, unveiled last month, focuses heavily on selling low-carbon electricity, biofuels and hydrogen directly to households and electric vehicle owners.

The strategy marks a contrast with that of other European oil majors, who in their own plans to reach net-zero emissions have vowed to accumulate vast amounts of renewable power generation capacity in the form of wind and solar assets. read more

Shell has written down the value of some of its gas assets, including its Queensland Curtis project in Australia.

As the Shift to Green Energy Speeds Up, Shell’s Big Natural-Gas Bet Is at Risk. The fuel faces growing environmental scrutiny and competition from cleaner energy sources

By Sarah McFarlane: March 27, 2021 5:30 am ET

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC bet big on natural gas as the energy source of the future when it bought BG Group for $54 billion. Five years later, it appears the gas era won’t last long. read more

Shell hunts for hydrogen opportunities in Australia in net zero push

Shell Australia Chair Tony Nunan said the company sees hydrogen and carbon capture and storage as essential to the company’s net zero ambitions, and Australia is well placed to be competitive in both of those technologies.

Australia, like its biggest coal and gas customers China, Japan and South Korea, has mapped out a hydrogen strategy, with plans to become an exporter by 2030, using its vast wind and solar resources to produce “green” hydrogen and natural gas and carbon capture for “blue” hydrogen. read more

Shell’s 2020 carbon emissions fall on the back of fuel sales drop

By Ron Bousso, Shadia Nasralla: 2 MIN READ: MARCH 11, 2021

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell, owner of the world’s largest fuel retail network, said on Thursday its total greenhouse gas emissions dropped 16% in 2020 as oil and gas sales fell sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Shell said in its annual report that total emissions from its oil wells to forecourt fuel sales fell to 1.38 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent last year, from 1.65 billion in 2019. read more

Shell publishes Annual Report and Accounts

Royal Dutch Shell plc published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended December 31, 2020.

The 2020 Annual Report and Accounts can be downloaded from www.shell.com/annualreport.

In compliance with 9.6.1 of the Listing Rules, on March 11, 2021, a copy of the 2020 Annual Report and Accounts was submitted to the National Storage Mechanism. This document will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism. In compliance with section 5:25m(5) Financial Markets Supervision Act the Annual Report and Accounts was submitted to the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). The AFM publishes the report in its public register. read more

Shell changes senior UK leadership in global overhaul

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is changing the senior leadership of its operations in Britain as part of a global overhaul to cut costs and shift away from oil and gas to renewables and power.

Under the changes, which have been announced internally, country chair Sinead Lynch will become Shell’s global head of low-carbon fuels, a company spokeswoman said.

Lynch, who joined the Anglo-Dutch company in 2016 following its acquisition of BG Group, will be replaced by David Bunch who currently runs Shell’s retail business across Europe and South Africa. Bunch joined Shell in 1997. read more

Energy firms bet on hydrogen boom, but payday far away

By Ron Bousso, Stephanie Kelly: March 3, 2021: 4 MIN READ

“Without hydrogen by 2050 we cannot aim to be a net zero (carbon) economy,” Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told the CERAWeek online conference this week.

The universe’s most abundant element, hydrogen has been touted for decades as an alternative to fossil fuels, but attempts to commercialise it for use in vehicles and industry have largely failed.

So far, commercial-scale production has been from natural gas or coal and it is a niche market used mainly in oil refining and heavy industry. read more