Reuters Staff: Tuesday 29 May 2018

LONDON (Reuters) – Friends of the Earth plans to file a lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), accusing the oil company of failing to act on climate change, the environmental activist group said on Tuesday.

Shell has set out “ambitions” to halve carbon emissions by 2050 and expand in renewables, but the Anglo-Dutch company has come under pressure from investors and activists to reduce its carbon footprint and comply with the 2015 international Paris climate agreement. read more

As oil giant Shell prepares for its annual shareholders meeting in The Hague tomorrow, Amnesty International is drawing investors’ attention to dozens of national and international lawsuits that are currently underway against the company and that could potentially cost it millions. Amnesty International has joined forces with four other NGOS – Global Witness, Groninger Bodem Beweging, Greenpeace and Milieudefensie – to hold a pop-up ‘exhibition’ at the meeting, showcasing details of 16 of the active lawsuits against Shell. read more

Jillian Ambrose, energy editor: 20 MAY 2018 • 7:30PM

Britain’s largest shareholder advisory groups have called on investors in Royal Dutch Shell to reject growing demands for the oil giant to take full responsibility for its impact on the environment.

Shell faces a binding shareholder vote tomorrow to decide whether to adopt rigorous accountability standards to bring its operations into line with the Paris climate agreement. Glass Lewis and ISS have urged shareholders to reject the “unduly burdensome” and “problematic” proposal. read more

Tristan R. Brown: Apr. 16, 2018 12:44 PM ET

Summary

April 4. 2018

An environmental campaign group on Wednesday threatened to take Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell to court should it fail to comply with climate targets set out under the Paris Agreement.

“Friends of the Earth Netherlands announced today that they will take Shell to court if it does not act on demands to stop its destruction of the climate,” the group said in a statement, accusing the firm of being “among the ten biggest climate polluters worldwide”.

The group said Shell promotes gas as a “clean fuel”, as it cited research that “shows that Europe cannot continue to use fossil fuels including gas” and meet its climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. read more

Andrew Ward, Energy Editor: 4 April 2018

Friends of the Earth, the environmental group, said it would file a lawsuit in the Netherlands if Shell failed to commit within eight weeks to bring its business into line with the Paris climate agreement. The case against Shell is being led by Roger Cox, the lawyer who won a landmark judgment in 2015 forcing the Dutch government to set more ambitious carbon reduction targets.

FULL FT ARTICLE

Green group demands that the oil firm moves away from fossil fuels to comply with the Paris deal, in the latest of a rising number of climate litigation cases read more

ARD TV in Germany — the German equivalent of BBC TV — on Saturday, 21 April 2012, broadcast a feature about John Donovan and his website (royaldutchshellplc.com) as part of the EUROPA MAGAZINE programme.

Related extracts from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally) 

FROM PAGES 6, 7, & 8

EXTRACT BEGINS

A professional translation of the German-language narration is printed below in italics:

John Donovan: A lone fighter against Shell

Next to the London Eye, the Shell Centre stands tall. Its enemy stands at the door.

“You might find that interesting,” says John Donovan. He distributes flyers to inform people about the oil company’s drilling projects.

“Shell destroys communities,” is what the banner says. An older gentleman and a handful of like-minded people are aggravating one of the world’s largest oil giants.

“We are putting Shell in a tough spot. What we’re doing is embarrassing them by distributing those leaflets. But they can’t do anything about it, because what we say is true and we can prove it.” read more

By Jimitota Onoyume: AUGUST 5, 2016

PORT HARCOURT—  Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government not to include Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, in any body constituted to oversee the clean up exercise in Ogoni, Rivers State.

Executive Director of the organisation, Dr Godwin Ojo,  in his opening remark at a colloquium,  yesterday, in Port Harcourt, to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the release of the recommendations of United Nations Environment Programme,  UNEP, on Ogoni-land, said that the alleged insistence by the oil company to sit on the Governing Council and Steering Board was worrisome. read more

Shell gives up on all but one Chukchi Sea lease

Yereth Rosen: Alaska Dispatch News: May 9, 2016

Royal Dutch Shell has decided to give up all but one of its federal offshore leases in the Chukchi Sea, bringing what appears to be an anticlimactic end to its multibillion-dollar effort to turn those icy Arctic waters off northwestern Alaska into a new oil-producing frontier.

“After extensive consideration and evaluation, we have made the decision to relinquish all but one of our federal offshore leases in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea. This action is consistent with our earlier decision not to explore offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future,” company spokesman Curtis Smith said in an email on Monday. read more

“We can confirm that representatives of the Dutch Financial Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) and the Dutch Public Prosecutor recently visited Shell at its headquarters in The Hague,” a spokesman said.

“The visit was related to OPL 245, an offshore block in Nigeria that was the subject of a series of long-standing disputes with the Federal Government of Nigeria. Shell is cooperating with the authorities and is looking into the allegations, which it takes seriously.” read more

Arthur Neslen: Friday 18 March 2016 

An email seen by the Guardian invites energy attaches from the EU’s 28 countries to visit the Shell technology Centre, take an ‘oil majors and oil paintings’ tour of the Van Gogh Museum, and have lunch with Shell’s president in the Netherlands.

Brook Riley, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth Europe said: “It is disgraceful to see Shell splurging profits from dirty, dangerous gas extraction on a blatant PR exercise, with the full support of the Dutch government. It is no wonder the EU’s energy plans are assuming zero improvements in efficiency or renewables. They are acting as though climate change does not exist.” read more

By NAN on January 2, 2016

An Environmental Rights group has condemned what it called the ‘slow response of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to the oil spill incident of July 12,2015 at the Adibawa Oil field, operated by the company.

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) made the condemnation in its field report on the oil field, a copy which was made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Saturday.

The group regretted that more than six months after the oil leak incident was reported, oil recovery was yet to be completed, exposing the environment to continued pollution by spilled crude. read more

By ROB DAVIES FOR THE DAILY MAIL: 19 December 2015

Royal Dutch Shell is braced for a flood of compensation claims against its Nigerian business over oil spills, after a ruling that makes it more vulnerable to lawsuits.

Judges in The Hague, Netherlands, ordered Shell to hand over documents that could shed light on the cause of spills, which the firm blamed on sabotage by oil thieves.

The ruling is a blow for Shell, which had argued that cases against its Nigerian joint venture SPDC should be heard in Nigeria where the plaintiffs are based, and where companies cannot be held responsible for spills caused by sabotage. read more

Court rules Royal Dutch Shell can be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria

By Reuters: 1:34PM GMT 18 Dec 2015

A Dutch appeals court has ruled that Royal Dutch Shell can be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria, potentially opening the way for other compensation claims against the multinational.

Judges in The Hague ordered Shell to make available to the court documents that might shed light on the cause of the oil spills and whether leading managers were aware of them.

A lower Dutch court in 2013 had found that Shell’s Dutch-based parent company could not be held liable for leakages of oil at its Nigerian subsidiary. read more

Dutch court: Nigeria farmers can sue Shell in Netherlands

[JURIST] The Hague Court of Appeals [official website] ruled Friday that the Royal Dutch Shell [corporate website] can be sued in a Dutch court for their involvement in oil leaks in Nigeria. The ruling [text, in Dutch] stems from a suit brought by four Nigerian farmers that claimed Shell and its Nigerian subsidiaries were responsible for oil leaks leading to their lands being damaged. In a statement explaining their reasoning for their decision, the Court of Appeals said, “It cannot be established in advance that the parent company is not liable for possible negligence of the Nigerian operating company.” read more