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… 

Image from Amnesty International UK

IMAGE SOURCE: Slick PR can’t disguise Shell’s devastating oil pollution in Nigeria

ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Fisherwomen, Chevron and the Leaking Pipe

By Ruth Maclean July 25, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ET

Oil companies like Chevron, Shell and Eni have made billions in profits in the vast Niger Delta region in the last decades. But now some are pulling out — and they are leaving utter ruin in their wake, according to government monitors and environmental and human rights organizations. The delicate ecosystem of the Niger Delta, once teeming with plant and animal life, is today one of the most polluted places on the planet. read more

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. read more

CNBC

Scientists hired by oil giants predicted climate crisis 60 years ago: Report

By CNBCTV18.com |Jul 05, 2021, 05:53 PM 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. read more

The New York Times

Lawmaker Threatens to Subpoena Exxon After Secret Video

The chairman of a powerful House subcommittee said he is seeking answers from Exxon and other oil and gas giants over their role in spreading disinformation on climate change.

By Hiroko Tabuchi and Lisa Friedman

The chairman of a House subcommittee is demanding that executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell, Chevron and other major oil and gas companies testify before Congress about the industry’s decades-long effort to wage disinformation campaigns around climate change. read more

The Guardian

Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price

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. read more

Oil and gas firms could face fresh legal action by activist groups as investors demand stock market-listed firms align with Paris climate goals

By HARRIET DENNYS, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 21:50, 26 June 2021 | UPDATED: 22:45, 26 June 2021

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. read more

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

• 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.
• Since the turn of the century, more than 2,000 climate litigation cases were found to have been filed in a trend that is widely expected to have global implications for carbon-intensive companies.
• Analysts believe this is merely scratching the surface of what is to be expected in the future — drawing parallels to the so-called tobacco trials of the 1950s and 1960s.

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. read more

The Washington Post

How Pope Francis and Vatican activists helped rein in Big Oil on climate change

By Claire Giangravé | Religion News Service: June 22, 2021 at 1:13 p.m. GMT+1

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Big oil companies in the United States and Europe were forced to come to terms with their role in climate change last month after shareholders, including large mutual funds and private equity firms, pressured the companies to shift their long-criticized environmental policies.

The shareholder rebellions at Chevron and Exxon made front-page news; what has been less reported is how Catholic groups, from the Vatican to orders of nuns to Catholic youth organizations, played a key role in holding Big Oil accountable, influenced by Pope Francis’ advocacy for justice and the environment. read more

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. read more

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

‘Wolf pack’ attack win opens the door for more turmoil

June 1, 2021: The success of the activist shareholder assault on the Exxon board last week, along with a court ruling ordering Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions faster than planned and a majority of Chevron shareholders voting for a reduction in its “scope three” emissions have been depicted as victories for climate activists.

While the Shell decision clearly fits into that category (although it will appeal) and Chevron probably also squeezes in, the Exxon experience isn’t quite as clear cut and illustrates the confusion and conflict, for companies and investors, that flow from the increasing aggression and impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds. read more

THE TELEGRAPH

Vilifying Western oil companies is a very bad way to fight climate change

AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD 31 May 2021 • 12:58pm

Green victories over the likes of Shell risk handing Russia and the petro-states political leverage over the world’s energy supplies

Environmentalists should think twice before celebrating the week that shook Big Oil to the core. Green activist victories against Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron are pregnant with unintended consequences.

The Shell saga is the most unsettling of the three episodes last week. (For sake of disclosure I own shares.) It was ordered by a district court in the Hague last Wednesday to slash emissions 45pc by 2030 in line with United Nations guidance, including the “Scope 3” emissions of hypothetical drivers who burn their petrol. Others will surely follow because copycat suits are proliferating. read more

Forbes

Big Oil’s Bad Week

The world’s largest integrated oil and gas companies are the so-called supermajors or more commonly “Big Oil.” In order of descending market capitalization these companies are ExxonMobil XOM -0.3%, Chevron CVX +0.8%, Royal Dutch Shell, TOTAL SE, and BP.

Last week three members of the Big Oil club were each dealt blows regarding the status quo of their businesses.

The Shell Decision

The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by Milieudefensie, the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth. More than 17,000 Dutch citizens and six environmental groups joined the lawsuit, which argued that Shell’s business practices violated the “unwritten standard of care” that required it to protect Dutch residents. read more

THE NEW YORK TIMES

A Week of Big Blows for Big Oil

Two victories by environmental activists added to the uncertainty surrounding the industry and Canada’s oil sands.

By Ian Austen: May 29, 2021

For environmentalists, it was a week of victories. For the oil and gas companies they vanquished, as well as Alberta and the other parts of Canada that rely on the energy industry, the week brought new uncertainties.

But environmentalists also dealt a blow to one of those European oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell, this week. A Dutch court ruled that Shell was “obliged” to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of its activities by 45 percent by the end of 2030, compared with 2019 levels. Shell had already announced a 2050 target for reaching net zero emissions, but the decision, if upheld, will force it to speed up its efforts. read more

nbc news/Reuters

Climate activists score wins against Exxon, Shell and Chevron

“Today was a stark warning for Big Oil,” said Bess Joffe, of the Church Commissioners for England, with executives “being held to account by investors and lawmakers.”

It has not been a good few days for Big Oil.

Shareholders Wednesday rebuked the top two U.S. oil companies for dragging their feet on fighting climate change, while a Dutch court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell needs to accelerate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. read more

FORBES

May 26, 2021: A Day That May Live In Infamy For Big Oil

David Blackmon: Senior Contributor: Energy: May 27, 2021,07:56am EDT

Wednesday was a quite an epic day for a trio of the world’s largest oil and gas corporations, and not in a positive way for their management teams. The C-suites at both ExxonMobil XOM -0.6% and Chevron CVX -1% suffered defeats at the hands of activist shareholders, while Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell was handed a major adverse decision from the Dutch courts. It’s hard to know which event will have the biggest impact on the respective companies – and potentially the industry as a whole – in the long-term, but in the short-term each presented a shock to the oil and gas system.

The adverse event of the day with the most obvious potential bite may well be the Dutch court’s decision ordering Shell to dramatically expand its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Already one of the more aggressive major oil companies in this arena, Shell had earlier this year adopted targeted cuts of at least 6% by 2023, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and by 100% by 2050 from its 2016 levels. But, as reported by Reuters, the court found that Shell’s plan was “not concrete and is full of conditions…that’s not enough.” read more