November 18, 2019

By Karen Savage

A Shell official falsely said the company has not lobbied against climate action during an energy debate staged by the oil giant and live-streamed on Twitter Monday.

“Shell has never lobbied against climate action, not 30 years ago, not 5 years ago, not 10 years ago,” said Maarten Wetselaar, director of Integrated Gas and New Energies for Shell and a member of the Royal Dutch Shell executive committee said.

Shell was a member of the Global Climate Coalition, a fossil fuel industry front group launched in 1988 to undermine the growing scientific consensus that global warming was a major global threat and was overwhelmingly caused by burning fossil fuels. The GCC was set up primarily to block international action to fight climate change and to build public support for delaying action in the U.S. The group disbanded in 2002. read more

Reading uni cuts fossil fuel investments by more than half

By Alex Seabrook Local Democracy Reporter: 6th November 2019

THE University of Reading (UoR) has cut its investment in fossil fuels by more than half in the past year – after pressure from students.

The university’s £63million endowment fund now has £729,575 invested in Royal Dutch Shell.

That’s according to financial statements recently published, which show what the fund is invested in as of July 31.

Last year, the university had £2,628,305 in fossil fuels, as of July 31, 2018, according to the previous statements. read more

“Cambridge University should not welcome Shell to do research, buy influence, and greenwash their reputation. Shell should be in the International Court of Justice, pledging to rectify the human and environmental damage that they have brought to Ogoniland. They should not be on campus at the University of Cambridge”.

by Zac Ntim: Tuesday November 5 2019, 3:09pm

The donation, which was not mentioned in Cambridge’s annual disclosures of its financial sources, will fund research into oil and gas extraction

Cambridge University has accepted a £6m donation from multinational oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell in March, The Guardian has revealed today.

The donation will fund research into oil extraction technology by a Cambridge University research group. This comes amid continued protests by students and staff calling on Cambridge to cut all investment and sponsorship relationships with fossil fuels companies.

Shell’s donation was approved by the University in March, however details were not included among other financial disclosures in July, when donations are typically announced. read more

Shell has given £6m to fund the work of the university’s magnetic resonance research group amid a concerted campaign by students and staff to persuade the university to sever its links with extractive industries.

Cambridge University has accepted a multimillion-pound donation from Shell to fund a team researching oil extraction technology, even as it publicly positions itself as part of the transition to a sustainable future.

Shell has given £6m to fund the work of the university’s magnetic resonance research group amid a concerted campaign by students and staff to persuade the university to sever its links with extractive industries.

Sinead Lynch, the chair of Shell UK, has been invited to join the panel at a policy-making workshop on Monday. Environmental campaigners at Cambridge have raised questions about potential links between the donation and the invitation. read more

The Hague, Netherlands — The Dutch Advertising Code Commission reprimanded Shell on appeal for its misleading advertising at Shell’s Generation Discover 2018 children’s festival.

The Board of Appeals ruled that Shell misled children between the ages of 8 and 14 by suggesting its Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) technology would contribute to a better environment and to attaining UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Board strongly recommended that Shell “no longer make advertisement campaigns in this manner.” read more

Just 20 energy companies account for one-third of greenhouse emissions since 1965, according to a new study.

The Climate Accountability Institute’s Richard Heede tallied up all the fossil fuels extracted by every company through 2017 and calculated the emissions. The data is public, the math is straightforward and the emissions are indisputable.

The top 10 companies, in order, are, predictably, Saudi Aramco, Chevron, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil, National Iranian Oil Co., BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Coal India and PEMEX. More details are available online at http://climateaccountability.org/carbonmajors.html. read more

By Nick Cunningham – Nov 02, 2019, 4:00 PM CDT

The carbon bubble “continues to inflate,” according to a new report from Carbon Tracker. And yet no major oil company has aligned its operations with the goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

This is not just a matter of bad corporate behavior. The oil industry is charging ahead with oil and gas projects that completely defy climate targets, which means that they are taking on serious financial risk. “Companies who continue to sanction higher-cost projects which do not fit with a lower demand scenario risk destroying significant shareholder value through the creation of stranded assets,” Carbon Tracker warned. The more companies delay, the greater risk they take on. read more

Jillian Ambrose: Fri 1 Nov 2019 13.02 GMT

The world’s largest oil and gas companies need to slash their production by more than a third by 2040 to meet global climate targets, according to a new report.

The seven listed oil majors – including ExxonMobil, BP and Shell – would need to cut the total amount of oil and gas they produce every day by 35% to avoid driving temperatures 1.5C higher than pre-industrialised levels.

Global governments would also need to stop issuing new oil and gas licences for fossil fuel exploration, according to the report. read more

20 October 2019: The Sunday Times

What seemed like the perfect route to a low-carbon world now looks like a risky bet, writes John Collingridge

What do the former Redcar steelworks on Teesside, a university in the Midlands and forests in the Scottish Highlands have in common? Answer: Big Oil is praying they hold the key to its future.

Strikes by schoolchildren, the rise of “flight-shaming” and an exodus of investors have left the energy industry reeling. Oil giants’ multibillion-pound bet — that gas will power the global economy into a low-carbon future — now looks risky.

As the mood changes, Big Oil is making increasingly ambitious — and desperate — attempts to clean itself up and reduce or trap carbon emissions. For giants including Shell, Total and BP, that means carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Redcar, promoting hydrogen as an alternative fuel, such as a pilot at Keele University — and even planting forests in Scotland. read more

Header images on royaldutchshellplc.com

Header images on royaldutchshellgroup.com