Fortune | Shell weakened its targets for carbon-emissions cuts in the coming decade, while maintaining the ambition of becoming a net zero company by 2050.
The change is the latest sign of a broader adjustment in plans for the energy transition among the UK-based oil majors, which have been under pressure from activist investors to focus on their core petroleum businesses.
[…]Under Sawan, who took over from Van Beurden last year, Shell has promised a “ruthless” focus on boosting investor returns. The company is also seeking to narrow the valuation gap with US peers Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., which have maintained a greater emphasis on oil and gas.
Meanwhile, environmental groups have decried what they see as the watering-down of the industry’s climate pledges.
“With this backtrack, Shell bets on the failure of the Paris Climate Agreement which requires almost halving emissions this decade,” Mark van Baal, founder of activist shareholder group Follow This, said in an emailed statement. “Only Shell’s shareholders can change the board’s mind by voting for our climate resolution at the shareholders’ meeting in May.”
Van Baal, along with 27 investors including Amundi SA, has filed a resolution at Shell’s annual general meeting pushing the company to align itself with the Paris Climate Agreement.
