Ron Bousso: MAY 22, 2018
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Top investors in Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday stepped up pressure on the oil and gas giant to commit to hard targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to battle climate change.
Shell has set out “ambitions” to halve carbon emissions by 2050 and expand in renewables energy, which Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said were ground breaking for the oil industry.
To view a graphic on Shell emissions, click: reut.rs/2Iya7Hf
“Nobody else comes close, it is seriously ambitious,” van Beurden said of Shell’s plan at the company’s annual general meeting in The Hague.
While praising Shell for its plan, a growing number of major shareholders has urged the Anglo-Dutch company to commit to hard targets to reduce carbon emissions from its oil and gas production, as well as from fuels it sells around the world.
“We call for this ambition to be translated into firm medium and short term targets, aligned with the Paris Agreement,” a group of 27 investors managing $7.9 trillion in assets said in a statement read at the AGM.
Shell’s board has urged shareholders to vote against a resolution brought forward for a vote at the AGM by activist group Follow This calling on Shell to set hard targets to reduce emissions in order to meet the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement goal to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.
Van Beurden warned that doing so would hamper Shell’s efforts to adapt to the transition going on in energy.
To view a graphic on Shell carbon reduction goals, click: reut.rs/2JOGJgZ
“The reputation of our company is irrevocably linked to targets… Nobody can see how the energy transition will play out over this period,” van Beurden said.
The previous two climate resolutions tabled by Follow This in 2016 and 2017 won the support of 2.8 percent and 6.3 percent of the votes, respectively.
Last week, a group of 60 global investors urged companies to do more to reduce emissions and become more transparent about their plans.
Producing and burning of oil and gas account for around 50 percent of global carbon emissions.
To view a graphic on Shell vs. Exxon, click: reut.rs/2Ez93SB
Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
