18 JUNE 2020

Nearly 10 years after a clean-up was urged for areas polluted by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta, work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated, according to a new investigation by four NGOs.

In 2011 the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report documenting the devastating impact of the oil industry in Ogoniland, and set out urgent recommendations for clean-up. But the new investigation highlights that “emergency measures” proposed by UNEP have not been properly implemented and that the billion-dollar clean-up project launched by the Nigerian government in 2016 has been ineffective. read more

In the Shell climate case, instigated by Friends of the Earth Netherlands along with six other organisations and more than 17000 co-plaintiffs. the Dutch court has announced four public sessions in December 2020. This decision will allow for greater public scrutiny and a potentially faster process, unlike that of the Dutch Urgenda case, where parties responded to each other mainly in writing, with a hearing following much later in the process.

The aim of the case is to force Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions as quickly as possible. Public hearings are seen as beneficial to the case, as Friends of the Earth Netherlands director Donald Pols said: “The publicity and international nature of this case could help stop Shell from getting away with telling a ‘green’ story while continuing to aggravate the climate crisis.” read more

Yannic Rack: 27 Jan 2020: S&P Global Market Intelligence

During the annual Oil & Money conference in London in October 2019, Ben van Beurden, who has been CEO of Royal Dutch Shell PLC since 2014, urged the oil and gas industry to step up and tackle climate change head-on. Shell and other oil and gas companies, van Beurden said, would need to help the transition to a lower-carbon world both to stay profitable and maintain their societal license to operate in the long run.

“We can, and must, evolve,” van Beurden said. At the same time, however, he emphasized another point dear to his heart — and one frequently echoed by executives at BP PLC, Total SA and other integrated majors. read more

By Karin Goodwin Reporter: 19 Jan 2020

A GROUNDBREAKING legal case being taken against oil company Shell could have dramatic consequences for the Dutch company’s Scottish North Sea operations, it has been claimed by environmental organisations.

The legal action, being led by Friends of the Earth (FOE) Netherlands on behalf of more than 30,000 people from 70 countries, aims to compel the company to “cease its destruction of the climate”.

Plaintiffs in the case argue that Shell is violating its duty of care and threatening human rights by knowingly undermining the world’s chances to stay below 1.5C, the level agreed to be critical by the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. read more

Even Forestry and Land Scotland officials warned this deal was greenwashing, and that is exactly what Shell is doing in adverts in petrol stations across the country.

Rob Edwards on January 16, 2020

Senior Scottish Government forestry officials feared that a £5 million tree-planting deal with the oil giant, Shell, could be viewed as “greenwashing”, according to internal emails seen by The Ferret.

One executive at Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) was worried that the government agency could “get worked over by Shell’s formidable PR machinery”. Another said that the deal was about Shell “reducing the harm that they do, not about them doing good.” read more

In a formal reply in November, Shell denied it was liable. A month earlier the company’s CEO said it had “no choice” but to invest in oil and claimed it was “entirely legitimate” to do so.

Court rules Dutch government has duty to protect citizens’ rights in face of climate change

Extracts from an article by Isabella Kaminski in The Hague: Fri 20 Dec 2019 13.08 GMT

The Netherlands’ supreme court has upheld a ruling ordering the country’s government to do much more to cut carbon emissions, after a six-year fight for climate justice.

The non-profit Urgenda Foundation, which brought the case, welcomed the “groundbreaking” judgment.

As well as inspiring cases against other national governments, Urgenda’s success has encouraged campaigners to take up legal arms against corporations. In April a group of social and environmental justice groups led by Friends of the Earth Netherlands began the process of suing the oil firm Shell, arguing that its business model threatens international climate goals and endangers human rights. read more

April 5, 2019

Environmental activists take Shell to court on Friday to try to stop the Anglo-Dutch oil giant drilling for gas and oil, and to ensure it meets climate change targets.

Some 17,000 people and six organisations have signed up to Milieudefensie’s call for co-defendants in the case, which the green group hopes will lead to a judge ‘forcing Shell to stop being a major cause of climate change.’

The 2015 Paris agreement on climate change included a commitment to leave oil, gas and coal in the grounds as much as possible, the lobby group says. ‘These three fuels are major causes of global warning and this is why we have to stop our dependence on them as soon as possible. ‘ read more

That letter followed the public release of a trove of documents by the Dutch news organization De Correspondent showing that for decades, Shell has been aware of the impact of burning fossil fuels on the climate. Like ExxonMobil, Shell had studied the problem and acknowledged the danger in internal documents, yet publicly downplayed the risk while funding climate denial groups.

By Dana Drugmand

Seven environmental and human rights organizations in the Netherlands announced on Tuesday they are prepared to sue Royal Dutch Shell if the oil giant refuses to align its business model with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

The groups, led by Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Milieudefensie, Greenpeace Netherlands and ActionAid Netherlands have gathered more than 13,000 signatures from Dutch citizens backing the forthcoming lawsuit. If Shell fails to meet their demands, they plan to deliver a court summons to the company at its headquarters in The Hague on April 5. This would be a new legal approach in battling climate change, the first lawsuit to directly challenge the business model and growth strategy of an oil company. read more

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