Climate change campaigners have tried to storm the stage at Shell’s annual general meeting.
The energy giant’s chief executive Wael Sawan was shielded by security staff as campaigners disrupted the meeting, which had already been delayed by nearly an hour.
Protesters chanted songs and slogans against the company – a major producer of polluting oil and gas.
A climate activist is removed from Shell’s AGM
“Go to hell, Shell, and don’t you come back no more,” a choir of about a dozen protesters sang – with Mr Sawan and Shell chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie looking on.
Security escorted protesters out of London’s ExCel conference centre – but more demonstrators emerged once others were removed.
Security shielded the stage
Some frustrated shareholders shouted “Shut up” and “get a job” in response to the protest.
Shell made record profits of £32bn last year while paying the equivalent of 22p per UK citizen in tax, which is less than in almost every other country in which it operates, according to campaigners Global Witness.
Shell shareholders are voting on a shareholder activist resolution, calling on the company to set more ambitious 2030 emissions cutting targets – which the firm’s board rejects.
The Church of England is among a number of shareholders planning to vote to oust Sir Andrew.
A protester is removed from the ExCel centre
Shell facing intensifying fight inside and outside the boardroom
It took Shell chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie more than an hour to formally open the company’s annual general meeting, interrupted every few minutes by protesters taking it in turns to shout, sing and even try to rush the stage.
It was a portrait of a company under pressure.
One of the planet’s largest corporate polluters squeezed between investors urging it to maximise soaring profits from oil and gas as the world reels from an energy crisis, and yet also facing increasing criticism over its carbon reduction targets.
This criticism and pressure is not only coming from the protesters outside the AGM with placards and drums, but activist shareholders demanding change.
More specifically they are insisting that Shell’s carbon targets are aligned to the Paris climate agreement by 2030, and so must focus less on carbon intensity, a measure of how much carbon is produced per barrel of oil or gas, and more on absolute reductions.
Shell will resist this.
It isn’t part of the company’s plan to get to net-zero by 2050 because it does not believe it is profitable to do so.
But increasingly vocal and powerful shareholders, including the Church of England, vehemently disagree.
These shareholders argue that climate destabilisation or breakdown, hastened by oil and gas production, constitutes a commercial disaster, and want Shell to change course and do more.
This fight, inside and outside the boardroom will only intensify in the coming years.
One protester immediately interrupted the meeting as soon as it had started, chanting: “Shut down Shell.”
The man shouted: “Welcome to Shell… complicit in the destruction of people’s homes, livelihoods and lives. Welcome to hell.”
He added: “I refuse to accept your hell on earth. Board members, directors and shareholders, I’m here to demand that you shut down Shell.”
Scientists say the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by around half by 2030 from 2019 levels to stand any chance of limiting warming to the globally agreed goal of 1.5C over pre-industrial levels. Emissions are still rising, although are expected to peak in about 2025.
A Shell spokesperson said it welcomed constructive engagement and pointed to its plans to become a net carbon zero company by 2050.
The spokesperson said: “We respect people’s right to express their point of view and welcome any constructive engagement on our strategy and the energy transition.
“However, yet again protesters have shown that they are not interested in constructive engagement.
“We agree that society needs to take action on climate change”.
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