News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc
Extracts from an email John Donovan received from the Guardian newspaper on 4 February 2020:
…we will no longer accept advertising from fossil fuel extractive industries.
We are the first major global news organisation to turn our backs on the oil and gas industry. The move will cost us money. But we felt obliged to act…
The Guardian
How a powerful US lobby group helps big oil to block climate action
Chris McGreal: Mon 19 Jul 2021 11.00 BST
When Royal Dutch Shell published its annual environmental report in April, it boasted that it was investing heavily in renewable energy. The oil giant committed to installing hundreds of thousands of charging stations for electric vehicles around the world to help offset the harm caused by burning fossil fuels.
On the same day, Shell issued a separate report revealing that its single largest donation to political lobby groups last year was made to the American Petroleum Institute, one of the US’s most powerful trade organizations, which drives the oil industry’s relationship with Congress.
Bloomberg: Quint
Tainted Money Is Better Than None for Struggling Charities
Max Hastings Jul 18 2021, 12:30 PM Jul 19 2021, 1:46 PM
In Britain, the actor Mark Rylance is among prominent lobbyists for Extinction Rebellion, a green advocacy group demanding, among much else, that Sadler’s Wells ballet company cease accepting money from Barclays Bank, which it describes as Europe’s largest financier of “fossil fuel extraction.”
Likewise, the British Museum is targeted for its partnership with oil company BP Plc., and the London Science Museum faces criticism for allowing Royal Dutch Shell Plc. to sponsor an exhibition on climate change.
CNBC
Scientists hired by oil giants predicted climate crisis 60 years ago: Report
By CNBCTV18.com | IST (Published)
More than 26 lawsuits have been filed in the US against oil companies for their role in climate change. The internal documents of these companies contain research data collected by their teams regarding the effect of rising global temperatures.
These researchers had accurately predicted rising global temperatures. Some of these researchers have testified that fossil fuel companies, petroleum giants like Exxon, Chevron, Shell and BP among others, knew about the role of burning fossil fuels in global warming more than 60 years ago.
The Guardian
Chris McGreal: Wed 30 Jun 2021 08.00 BST
The environmentalist Bill McKibben once characterized the fossil fuel industry’s behavior as “the most consequential cover-up in US history”. And now for the first time in decades, the lawsuits chart a path toward public accountability that climate activists say has the potential to rival big tobacco’s downfall after it concealed the real dangers of smoking.
“We are at an inflection point,” said Daniel Farber, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley and director of the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment.
Oil and gas firms could face fresh legal action by activist groups as investors demand stock market-listed firms align with Paris climate goals
Major oil and gas firms including BP and Shell could face fresh legal action by activist groups as investors demand stock market-listed firms align with Paris climate goals.
The wave of potential lawsuits could also target Chevron and Exxon and other heavy industry majors such as Ineos, the petrochemicals giant controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, and biomass power firm Drax.
CNBC
Big Oil’s increasing number of climate lawsuits draws parallels to Big Tobacco
PUBLISHED FRI, JUN 25 20211:12 AM EDT: Sam Meredith
@SMEREDITH19
LONDON — Big Oil is likely to face an exponential increase in climate lawsuits over the coming years, a trend that analysts say is reminiscent of activists turning to the courts to take on the tobacco industry.
The prospect of a rising tide of climate litigation cases against heavy emitting businesses comes shortly after a landmark courtroom defeat for Royal Dutch Shell.
Bloomberg Green
Oil Companies Rejected by Supreme Court on Moving Climate Fight
By Greg Stohr: 14 June 2021, 14:32 BST
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by oil companies including BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp., leaving intact an important procedural ruling favoring two California cities suing for billions of dollars to address the impact of climate change.
The justices, without comment, refused to consider the industry’s bid to shift the lawsuit into federal court, where companies tend to fare better than they do before state tribunals.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Oil Majors Look to Fill Businesses’ Growing Appetite for Green Power
By Sarah McFarlane: May 24, 2021 7:00 am ET
Businesses are buying more renewable power, and oil majors want a piece of the action.
European oil companies including BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are building new wind and solar projects and striking deals to supply electricity to big corporate buyers like Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., treading into the domain of traditional power companies.
Oil companies say securing long-term deals to supply electricity will provide a new source of income and underpin their expansion into wind and solar power as they seek to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and prepare for a lower-carbon economy.
Royal Dutch Shell AGM (Tuesday 18th May)
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
17th May 2021 09:01
Shell’s energy transition strategy will go before an advisory vote of shareholders as the oil giant takes its first steps towards becoming a net-zero emissions business by 2050.
Chief executive Ben van Beurden set out the strategy in February, outlining a focus on low-carbon operations such as wind, solar, biofuels and hydrogen over the next decade.
For the foreseeable future, Shell sees upstream operations continuing to deliver the energy supplies and cash needed to accelerate the transition towards low carbon businesses.
Investors should beware the rising tyranny of social media campaign groups
Article by Oliver Shah. The Sunday Times May 16, 2021. Page 9 Business Section
EXTRACT
On Tuesday, Shell investors will vote on a resolution from Dutch activist Follow This calling for the oil major to set “inspirational” targets for cutting carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. Shell, run by Ben van Beurden, cut its dividend last year and has seen its shares slump by more than a third since January 2020. Follow This chalked up a big victory against Shell’s US rival ConocoPhillips last Tuesday, with 58% of investors backing its resolution that the company should take responsibility for so-called scope 3 emissions – the pollution created by users of its fuels.
Royal Dutch Shell investor RWC to back Follow This climate proposal at AGM
Simon Jessop: May 13, 2021: 12.27 PM BST
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) investor RWC said on Thursday it planned to back a climate-related shareholder proposal put forward at the company’s annual meeting by activist group Follow This.
RWC said the company’s energy transition plans were not ambitious enough, lacked detail and did not put the company on a path to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement within the next decade.
BP and Shell not serious about net zero: Sarasin
“We do not believe BP or Shell can be serious about getting to net zero until their accounts and capex plans are aligned with that goal,” she said.
Big Oil and its green ambitions could be about to get a serious reality check
LONDON — The month of May promises to be a ground-breaking one for Big Oil.
Oil and gas majors on both sides of the Atlantic are preparing to hold their annual shareholder meetings in the coming weeks. It comes at a time when the world’s largest corporate emitters are under immense pressure to set short, medium and long-term emissions targets that are consistent with the Paris Agreement.
At present, not a single oil and gas company is aligned with Paris-consistent emission reduction targets or investment levels more than five years after the landmark climate accord was ratified by nearly 200 countries. The agreement is widely recognized as critically important to avoid an irreversible climate crisis.
Big Oil Is In Desperate Need Of New Discoveries
By Alex Kimani – May 10, 2021, 2:00 PM CDT
The year 2020 was a watershed moment for the fossil fuel sector. Faced with a global pandemic, severe demand shocks and a shift towards renewable energy, experts warned that nearly $900 billion worth of reserves–or about one-third of the value of big oil and gas companies–were at risk of becoming worthless.
Even Big Oil mostly appeared resigned to its fate, with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) CEO Ben van Beurden declaring that we had already hit peak oil demand while BP Plc. (NYSE:BP)—a company that doubled down on its aggressive drilling right after the historic 2015 UN Climate Change Agreement--finally gave in saying “..concerns about carbon emissions and climate change mean that it is increasingly unlikely that the world’s reserves of oil will ever be exhausted.” BP went on to announce one of the largest asset writedowns of any oil major after slashing up to $17.5 billion off the value of its assets and conceded that it “expects the pandemic to hasten the shift away from fossil fuels.”
Will Supermajors Finally Be Held Accountable For Oil Spills?
By Global Risk Insights – May 08, 2021, 12:00 PM CDT
A British Supreme Court ruling has brought to a head a 13-year-old battle to hold Royal Dutch Shell accountable for massive oil spills in the Niger Delta in 2008 and 2009. This creates a precedent for taking multinational corporations to trial in the home countries of their parent companies. This may mark the beginning of a more regulated global environment, in which subsidiary companies responsible for human rights abuses happening abroad could be held more accountable. Whether this will be an effective solution remains to be seen.
: The recent allegations highlight that the inspectors in charge of assuring safety and environmental protection on large pipeline projects are usually paid by the pipeline builders themselves. Critics say that creates a conflict of interest, but pipeline industry officials compare the practice to quality control in other areas of manufacturing. “The system isn’t set up to ensure experienced and accountable inspections,” said Shannon Smith of the FracTracker Alliance, a Pennsylvania-based energy watchdog group that has monitored Shell’s project.
: You can be SURE of HELL, sorry missed an ‘s’ SHELL
: Unfortunately I was persuaded to switch to Shell Energy Broadband after a conversation with a staffer of USwitch, supposedly because download speeds were a little faster than PlusNet. But what a bad decision! Upload speeds are truly terrible, and the download speeds struggle to get up to what they publicise. Its an indictment of USwitch advice that they failed to point out how much upload speeds can vary between providers and that you can be trading DOWN to a worse service. Do the sane thing - don't be tempted as I was to choose this provider.
: ok... it looks like Malaysia is next on the chopping block. piece by piece...
: Rather than fixing the problem, Shell ordered the whistleblowers off the project and the contractor fired the two inspectors. The couple’s allegations are contained in their whistleblower complaint filed with the Labor Department.
“We did our jobs, and we were harassed, abused, ridiculed, and humiliated. They said they’d been repeatedly warned they’d be “run off” if they kept pressing safety concerns.
: If you want to be ripped off go to Shell Energy. I live in a one bed flat and they charged me £291 for 1 months electricity and sent me out a wrong bill for £1500 when it was only £800. Yes stress!
Oh i forgot i raised a complaint on 29th July of which no one got back to me so I called today to be offered £30 and 6 sorrys of so sorry mistakes happen.
Either way Stay Away from Shell Energy!
: Prelude to Disaster. More Shell HSSE whitewash: https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/asia/337828/sleep-deprived-workers-at-shells-prelude-flng-make-official-complaint/
: It is no surprise to read about the pipeline inspectors findings. Penn Chem has a checkered past with respect to negative findings in assurance and audit activities. Just dig into the earth works, water conduits, foundations, blasting damage, pressure vessel quality, etc. They have run off so many safety professional (and quality inspectors) until they found those who wouldn't rock the boat and let the contractors "get on with it". Not to mention the number who found opportunities elsewhere. Those left, are mostly happy to look the other way and collect the paycheck. All to make single use PE... BvB talks about the environment and safety. Can he walk it? Reshape demonstrates the strong commitment to eliminate independent S&E assurance activities, now that is a learner mindset twist on "inherent" safety!
: Two former pipeline inspectors say they were fired for reporting hazards on a volatile liquids pipeline to Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s massive new petrochemical plant northwest of Pittsburgh. The inspectors, Frank Chamberlin and Susan D’Layne Carite, said they warned Shell managers and even federal regulators in 2019 that the anti-corrosion coating was defective on the company’s Falcon pipeline. That could increase the threat of corrosion, a leading cause of pipeline ruptures. https://www.eenews.net/articles/whistleblowers-say-bad-seeds-undermine-pipeline-safety/
: Does anyone have the list of Shell assets for sale this week? After the rumors of Aera / Permian, maybe Norco, Penn Chem, GOM, ... Whats next?
: Hilarious, if they weren't serious: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/07/its-time-to-nationalize-shell-private-oil-companies-are-no-longer-fit-for-purpose
: If they are not careful they will kill the goose that lays the golden egg: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/26/business/shell-court-case-climate-change/index.html?utm_source=twCNN&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2021-05-26T14%3A14%3A04&utm_term=link
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.website republishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission website etc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 60 books also containing references to our non-profit websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
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