Shell promises to accelerate shift to low carbon

The oil giant Shell will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions more quickly than planned following a legal ruling in the Netherlands, its chief executive has promised in a blog post.

Shell would take “bold but measured steps”, Ben van Beurden wrote, but would still appeal against the ruling.

Environmentalists won a court case in May, arguing Shell was failing to reduce emissions quickly enough.

Friends of the Earth said if Shell were serious, it would drop the appeal.

Mr van Beurden’s post on networking site LinkedIn acknowledged that the firm would have to respond to the court’s ruling without waiting for the outcome of the appeal, and that it applied to the energy giant’s worldwide business.

However, he sought to reassure investors that it would not disrupt Shell’s plans.

“For Shell, this ruling does not mean a change, but rather an acceleration of our strategy,” he wrote.

The campaign group Milieudefensie, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, which brought the case, successfully argued that Shell had a human rights obligation to bring its business into line with international agreements on avoiding faster heating of the planet.

Agencies