Posts under ‘Human Rights’

The Guardian

Pulling the switch: how to find a new clean energy provider in Australia

With the sale of electricity provider Powershop to Shell, many customers drawn to good climate credentials are pondering their options

Rafqa Touma: Tue 30 Nov 2021 23.00 GMT

Since multinational energy giant Royal Dutch Shell expanded into Australia’s residential electricity market by purchasing our greenest power company, Powershop Australia, many of Powershop’s 185,000 customers have apparently considered jumping ship. read more

I have been asked by Survival to publish this news story. It has nothing to do with Shell but it is a subject of importance.

Hi John,

Have you heard the news about the uncontacted Piripkura tribe’s land being destroyed for beef production?

We’ve just released this press release about it, with new overflight images depicting the destruction: https://survivalinternational.org/news/12704

Without their lands, the Piripkura tribe will not survive, so it really is a matter of life and death.

Would you be able to cover this urgent story? read more

Shell Wild Coast backlash: Petrol stations cut ties over oil exploration

Oil giant Shell has now lost around 30 South African petrol stations. Owners are boycotting the brand over it’s upcoming seismic survey.

Allegations and Litigation Relating to Spymasters in Shell’s Corporate Security Department

By John Donovan

See below a self-explanatory email I sent yesterday to named senior executives at Shell.

It mentions the current momentous events at Royal Dutch Shell, although that is not the subject of the email. In that connection, I have not spotted any reference in current news coverage to the Dutch police raid at Shell’s current HQ in The Hague.

That astonishing development may have fuelled a growing feeling that the Dutch government has turned anti-Shell by allowing Nigerian and climate change litigation against Shell to proceed in the Dutch courts and tightening up Dutch tax regulations affecting Shell. read more

Minister hails ‘vote of confidence’ for Brexit Britain as Shell moves its HQ to London from the Netherlands and plans to scrap ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name

• Kwasi Kwarteng said decision – subject to a vote – would ‘create jobs’ in Britain
• Board meetings and senior executives will move to London in boost for capital 
• Decision follows lawsuit by climate activists to force Shell to slash emissions 

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 11:30, 15 November 2021 | UPDATED: 12:26, 15 November 2021

Oil giant Shell today announced it will move its headquarters and tax residence to the UK and drop ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name for the first time in 130 years.

The decision was hailed as a ‘clear vote of confidence in the British economy that will ‘create jobs’ by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. The firm pays hundreds of millions of pounds worth of taxes every year, which will now go to the Treasury. read more

The Telegraph

We’ll all pay for turning Big Oil into a pariah

JEREMY WARNER 5 November 2021 • 6:00am: Extracts

If nothing else, the apparent contradiction in aims highlights a basic truth about “Big Oil”; like it or not, the world remains overwhelmingly dependent on hydrocarbons for its energy needs; however fast we invest in alternatives, that’s not going to change for some time to come.

Both of Britain’s oil majors, BP and Shell, have ambitious plans to transform themselves into clean energy enterprises, yet to the fury of Extinction Rebellion activists, the bulk of their investment is still heavily focused on oil and gas. As it is, they are arguably not investing nearly enough in hydrocarbons. read more

By John Donovan

Last Sunday I was described in the Channel 4 TV documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant as Shell’s No1 Enemy and as Shell’s nightmare. (Transcript of the relevant segment)

Within days I seem to have lost both titles to a billionaire upstart, Daniel Loeb, who seems intent on breaking up Shell.

From my unique perspective on Shell senior management over recent decades, he is right to question competence and direction.

How has Shell ended up with a foe (me) operating a website using the top-level domain name royaldutchshellplc.com and as a consequence dealing on Shell’s behalf with job applications and all manner of other email correspondence meant for Shell? This is the humiliating situation Shell has been in since 2005. Evidently, no one at Shell has had the gumption to do anything to put an end to such a farce. read more

The Washington Post

Break-up calls and congressional hearings: Big Oil faces growing pressure to change

Ahead of the COP26 Summit, oil executives made a historic appearance on Capitol Hill and Shell faced a hedge funds’s call to split up its business.

On the eve of a pivotal global climate summit, the world’s oil giants have been swamped by calls from activists, investors and lawmakers to move faster to transform their businesses, cut down greenhouse gas emissions and take responsibility for their role in the climate crisis. read more

The Washington Post

Shell Oil president pressed on whether warming is ‘existential threat’

By Maxine Joselow 12:04 p.m.

Gretchen Watkins, president of Shell Oil, would not concede under questioning that climate change poses an “existential threat” to the nation and the world, even as the oil company rolled out a new pledge to cut planet-warming emissions early Thursday.

“I agree climate change is one of the biggest challenges in the world today, which is why at Shell, we’re in action,” Watkins said. read more

THE TIMES

‘Unwelcome’ Shell will not attend Cop26, says boss

The Guardian

One of world’s biggest pension funds to stop investing in fossil fuels

One of the world’s largest pension funds, ABP, is selling its €15bn-worth of holdings in fossil fuel companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, claiming it had been unable to persuade the sector to transition quickly enough towards decarbonisation.

Corien Wortmann-Kool, the chair of ABP, the Dutch pension fund for civil servants and teachers, said it would no longer invest in producers of oil, gas and coal, and that it would dispense with its current investments in those sectors by the first quarter of 2023. read more

NAM to be broken up and sold off, as Dutch gas production ends

27 Oct 2021

The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) set up in 1947 by Shell and Esso, is being dismantled, ending 75 years of Dutch gas extraction.

The company, which is now 50% owned by Shell and 50% by ExxonMobil, is being chopped into four separate limited companies which will be sold off, including all its Dutch oil and gas interests, apart from the Groningen field which is being wound down.

The Groningen field, which has generated hundreds of billions of euros for the treasury, will close next year and the other fields, on both land and sea, are being sold off – probably to foreign investors. read more

NAM to be broken up and sold off, as Dutch gas production endsOctober 27, 2021

The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) set up in 1947 by Shell and Esso, is being dismantled, ending 75 years of Dutch gas extraction

The company, which is now 50% owned by Shell and 50% by ExxonMobil, is being chopped into four separate limited companies which will be sold off, including all its Dutch oil and gas interests, apart from the Groningen field which is being wound down.

The Groningen field, which has generated hundreds of billions of euros for the treasury, will close next year and the other fields, on both land and sea, are being sold off – probably to foreign investors. read more

The content below is sourced from current customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.

27 Oct 2021

These reviews must be fake

These reviews must be fake, I was told last week that it would be 48 hours to get a phonecall regarding getting a smart meter install, I’ve not heard anything. I’m unable to complete a booking online and I have not had a phonecall like promised.

May change my review rating once I get a good service, not off to a good start.

Update: now changed to a 1 star review! Horrendous customer service! Still no call so I phoned and the agent creates a ticket for me, I got an email reply from the smart meter team asking me a load of questions wanting to know what time I set my alarm in the morning, what have I got for my lunch, how many times do I brush my teeth, etc. read more

Introduction by John Donovan: Printed below is a news story published by openDemocracy with links to related coverage by City AM and The Times. The Sunday Times published a related article in 2001 headlined MI6 ‘Firm’ Spied on Green Groups. That undercover activity targeted Greenpeace and other perceived enemies of Shell and BP. Like BP, Shell is also still using covert intelligence activity. SEE Shell’s failed blundering attempt to kill my royaldutchshell.website

Also related: Top spy takes early retirement from MI6… only to be hired by BP… read more

By John Donovan

Channel 4 TV documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant which aired at 9pm in the UK, 24 Oct 2021.

FROM CHANNEL 4 WEBSITE: Joe Lycett takes on Shell, as he investigates whether the oil giant is as eco-friendly as its advertising makes it out to be. Joe meets climate experts and investigates whether Shell are as eco-friendly as their advertising makes out, before making his own parody version of their ads. But will Shell sit up and listen?

Transcript extracts from the interview with John Donovan read more