Shell investors are urging the oil and gas company to set “credible” scope 3 reduction targets in line the 2015 Paris agreement.
Some 27 investors – which together own around 5% of the oil company’s shares – have backed Dutch shareholder activists Follow This calling for fossil fuel giant to align its targets with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
The National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) are also backing the investor coalition, the Guardian reported.
Nest head of responsible investment Diandra Soobiah is urging it to set a “credible scop 3 absolute emissions target”.
“This would demonstrate leadership, show Shell is serious about transitioning its business, and play a role in generating real world change,” Soobiah added.
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Follow This founder Mark van Baal argues that its support is expected to grow in the next few months, in time for Shell’s annual general meeting in May.
Van Baal said: “This escalation of 27 leading investors puts the call for emissions reductions by energy companies front and centre for all institutional investors.”
Last year, Shell’s head of renewable energy Thomas Brostrom left the oil and gas company after it abandoned its plans to cut oil production.
A Shell spokesperson said: “The 2024 resolution from Follow This is broadly unchanged from their 2023 submission, which was rejected by shareholders (as its variations have been every year since first being submitted in 2016).
“Shell’s board has previously advised shareholders that the Follow This resolution was unrealistic and simplistic, that it would have no impact on mitigating climate change, have negative consequences for our customers, and was against the interests of the company and our shareholders.”
