Posts under ‘BBC News’

BBC NEWS

Climate change: Courts set for rise in compensation cases

By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent: 28 JUne 2021

There’s likely to be a significant increase in the number of lawsuits brought against fossil fuel companies in the coming years, say researchers.

Their new study finds that to date, lawyers have failed to use the most up-to-date scientific evidence on the cause of rising temperatures.

As a result, there have been few successful claims for compensation.

That could change, say the authors, as evidence linking specific weather events to carbon emissions increases. read more

Shell promises to accelerate shift to low carbon

The oil giant Shell will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions more quickly than planned following a legal ruling in the Netherlands, its chief executive has promised in a blog post.

The firm would take “some bold but measured steps,” Ben van Beurden wrote.

Environmentalists won a court case in May, arguing Shell was failing to reduce emissions quickly enough.

Mr van Beurden said Shell would appeal against the ruling, but meanwhile he would look at hastening the transition. read more

Extinction Rebellion: Conditional discharge for Shell protest woman

A climate activist who admitted causing criminal damage to Shell’s London HQ has been given a conditional discharge days after her co-defendants were cleared of the charge.

Katerina Hasapopoulous, 43, glued herself to a door of the building in Belvedere Road on 15 April 2019.

The Extinction Rebellion (XR) member also spray painted the building.

The judge said the sentence would have been “different” had the others been found guilty by a jury. read more

Over a million UK energy customers who switched providers overcharged

Ovo and Shell were identified as the worst offenders.

Lucy Harley-McKeown: Tue, March 2, 2021, 4:35 PM

More than a million UK energy customers that switched providers could have been overcharged due to errors made by suppliers.

According to Ofgem, the sector’s biggest suppliers made mistakes, including Ovo Energy, Shell, British Gas, E.On, EDF, Npower, Scottish Power, SSE and Octopus.

Ovo and Shell were identified as the worst offenders. read more

By John Donovan

The BBC recently published an article under the headline: Shell’s legal woes over Nigeria’s oil.

The article listed some of the growing numbers of lawsuits being brought against Shell in multiple legal jurisdictions, all arising from Shell’s deplorable conduct in Nigeria.

The damaging global news coverage reporting on the various court actions seems to have stung Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden into threatening that Shell may pack its corporate bags and pull out of Nigeria. read more

Shell’s legal woes over Nigeria’s oil

Environmental cases:

Shell in Nigeria: Polluted communities ‘can sue in English courts’

12 FEBRUARY 2021

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that polluted Nigerian communities can sue oil giant Shell in English courts.

The decision is a victory for the communities after a five-year battle and overturns a Court of Appeal ruling.

The Niger Delta communities of more than 40,000 people say decades of pollution have severely impacted their lives, health and local environment.

Shell had argued it was only a holding company for a firm that should be judged under Nigerian law. read more

Royal Dutch Shell to cut more than 300 North Sea jobs

By Kevin Keane: BBC Scotland energy correspondent: 12 Jan 2021

The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is to cut 330 jobs from its operations in the North Sea.

The company said most of the posts are based at its office in Aberdeen and will be lost over the next two years.

In September, it was announced that up to 9,000 jobs would go worldwide as the company responded to the slump in demand for oil.

Shell insists it remains committed to the North Sea and will continue to invest in its operations. read more

Shell to cut up to 9,000 jobs as oil demand slumps

30 Sept 2020

Royal Dutch Shell has said it plans to cut 7,000 to 9,000 jobs as it responds to challenges including the slump in oil demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The oil giant said the cuts would be implemented by 2022 and included 1,500 people who were taking voluntary redundancy.

It gave no indication of where the job losses would happen.

The move comes five months after it cut its dividend for the first time since World War Two.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said the job cuts were “the right thing to do for the future of the company” as it strives to become a net-zero emissions energy business. read more

Radio 1 DJ Greg James was paid £100,000 by oil giant Shell to front an online campaign which plugged the company’s ‘green’ credentials.

The Breakfast Show presenter, who is paid £229,999 a year by the BBC, is the latest star to be accused of cashing in on their public profiles by moonlighting for corporate firms.

The 34-year-old, who broadcasts to around 5.6 million listeners each Monday to Thursday, fronted a five-part series for Shell called The Great Travel Hack.

The Top Gear-style programme followed two teams of competitors racing from London to Istanbul while using environmentally friendly vehicles. read more

“Governments and corporations like Shell all agree that my children are facing a catastrophic climate and ecological collapse yet are doing next to nothing to prevent this.”

16 Jan 2020

Extinction Rebellion protesters have ended a blockade at the entrances to Shell’s Aberdeen headquarters.

Activists arrived at the Altens base at about 06:30 and remained at the site until 19:30 in a bid to “hold Shell to account”.

The group said the protest was part of its two-week long campaign targeting the fossil fuel industry.

Shell said it was addressing its emissions and helping customers to reduce theirs.

And industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) said climate change would not be solved by “stunts”. read more

16 Jan 2020

Extinction Rebellion protesters have blocked the entrances to Shell’s Aberdeen headquarters.

Activists arrived at the Altens base at about 06:30 and plan to remain at the site all day “to hold Shell to account”.

The group says the protest is part of its two-week long campaign targeting the fossil fuel industry.

Shell said it was addressing its emissions and helping customers to reduce theirs.

The protesters plan to walk through Aberdeen city centre, starting at the railway station at 13:00 then going via Union St and the harbour.

The group also has its purple boat at the site. read more

By Lora Jones BBC News: 10 Jan 2020

When Clare Crisp received an email from her energy provider, Shell Energy last November, she was shocked and confused.

Her direct debit had been nearly doubled from £72 to £130 per month, despite her account previously being £148 in credit.

“I looked at my bills and thought: what on earth has gone on?” she says.

Eventually, she worked out what the energy firm had done. It had gone back five-and-a-half years, cancelled her previous electricity bills and re-billed her with higher amounts, adding up to an extra cost of £512. read more

06 Jan 2020

Seven people have been arrested after environmental activists took part in an “extended occupation” of a drilling rig in Dundee harbour.

Three female protesters from Extinction Rebellion Scotland climbed onto Valaris’s Ensco 122 from the River Tay.

They climbed halfway up one of the legs of the rig to try to prevent it leaving.

The women came down about five hours later due to deteriorating weather conditions.

Police said seven people had been arrested in total. read more

The UK and US considered a navy-backed oil embargo against Nigeria, following the 1995 execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, a document released by the UK government reveals.

Saro-Wiwa and eight other campaigners from the Ogoni ethnic group were hanged on 10 November 1995.

They had been found guilty by a secret military tribunal of the murder of four Ogoni chiefs by a mob.

The nine denied the charge and said they had been framed.

Saro-Wiwa led mass protests against oil pollution in Nigeria’s Ogoniland.

The protests were seen as a major threat to Nigeria’s military ruler at the time, Gen Sani Abacha, and Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell.

• Fishermen at risk amidst the oil

• Militants cripple Nigeria’s oil sector

The executions led to Nigeria suspension from the Commonwealth. read more

Energy giant Shell has won a court order preventing environmentalists from boarding unmanned North Sea installations.

Lawyers acting for the company went to the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking an interim interdict against Greenpeace.

It comes after protesters boarded platforms in the Brent field off Shetland in October.

Lady Carmichael ruled the activists had no right to enter the installations.

• Shell launches Greenpeace North Sea legal action
• Greenpeace ends occupation of oil platform

Greenpeace had claimed an order would breach its right to protest, and described the ruling as a “setback” – but said a possible appeal would be considered. read more