Climate activists stormed Shell’s annual shareholder meeting in London, calling for the oil and gas giant to stop contributing to the climate crisis and stop operations. The demonstrations delayed the meeting by over an hour, as several Shell shareholders also called out the company for greenwashing its commitments to delivering on its own climate targets.
“Despite Shell posting record profits in 2022… its capital expenditure into renewables and low carbon energy is far lower than would be expected by a company seeking to shape a future in the transition,” The Church of England Pension Fund director Laura Hillis said at the meeting. “[Our] interests are not being served by the short term approach that the company appears to be taking,” she added.
About a fifth of shareholders at the meeting voted for a resolution that would require Shell to adopt more ambitious climate pollution reduction targets. A 2021 ruling by a Dutch court requires Shell to cut its climate pollution 45 percent by the end of the decade, though the company is appealing that decision. (Reuters, CNBC, CNN, AP)