OIL giant Shell faced fresh demands to tackle climate change today after it unveiled further returns for shareholders following better than expected earnings.
The group reported underlying earnings of $7.7 billion (£6.1bn) for the first three months of 2024.
This was higher than forecast and 6 per cent greater than earnings in the previous quarter.
The FTSE 100 firm announced another $3.5bn (£2.8bn) in share buybacks for the second quarter.
But major investors in Shell are calling for the group to take further action on emissions and climate change at its forthcoming annual general meeting on May 21.
Led by activist shareholder Follow This and including the likes of Amundi and Axa Investment Managers, the group has filed a resolution urging the company to align its greenhouse gas emissions targets with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
In a letter to shareholders today, they asked other investors to back the resolution and send a “strong signal” to the industry.
Shell chief financial officer Sinead Gorman said the group was “looking forward to the annual general meeting in terms of our ability to engage with shareholders.”
The results have put Shell’s climate change efforts in the spotlight, with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank saying just $438 million (£329m) was spent on renewables in the first quarter.
IPPR associate director George Dibb said: “It is crystal clear that, left to its own devices, Shell can’t be trusted to drive the green transition.”
But Shell said its total spend on lower carbon solutions across the group as a whole was far higher, reaching $5.6bn (£4.5bn) last year.
Greenpeace also stepped up its calls for a “climate damages tax” on fossil fuel firms following the release of the figures.
Senior climate adviser Charlie Kronick said: “On a day where climate leaders are negotiating in Abu Dhabi over how to help the world’s poorest meet the skyrocketing costs of climate loss and damage, Shell continues to bank billions from flogging the fuels that are driving the crisis.”
Warm This Winter spokesperson Fiona Waters said:“This is obscene — people are just fed up with fat cat energy companies like Shell raking in billions whilst pensioners, families and workers are counting each and every penny.”
