Option
LONDON, United Kingdom - A demonstration was held outside Shell's headquarters today by Greenpeace UK activists, in parallel with an ongoing peaceful protest by Greenpeace International for climate justice at sea, as Shell announced record annual profits of £32,2 billion ($39,9 billion). $) scored.
At dawn, activists erected a giant mock gas station price board outside the company's London headquarters. The 10ft chart shows the £32,2bn Shell made in profits in 2022, with a question mark next to the amount it will pay for climate losses and damage. The activists are calling on Shell to take responsibility for its historic role in the climate crisis and to pay for the devastation it is causing around the world.
To put Shell's huge profits into perspective today, they amount to well over double conservative estimates of the £13,1bn it will take Pakistan to recover from last year's devastating floods.[ 1]
Today's protest comes alongside another ongoing Greenpeace International protest at sea, with four brave activists from climate-affected countries occupying a Shell oil and gas platform in the Atlantic Ocean on their way to Penguin Field in the North Sea. The activists boarded the platform near the Canary Islands from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise.
Virginia Benosa-Llorin, Greenpeace Southeast Asia climate justice activist currently aboard Arctic Sunrise said: “Where I'm from, San Mateo, Rizal, Philippines, was hit by Typhoon Ketsana in 2009, killing 464 people and affecting more than 900.000 families, including mine.
“My husband and I have been saving for years to buy a home of our own, tightening our belts to furnish piece by piece. Then came Ketsana. In one fell swoop everything was gone. Watching the water rise rapidly while trapped in our tiny attic was terrifying; I had a feeling the rain wouldn't stop. The only way out was through the roof, which my husband began to break. It's been a long, horrible day.
“Despite the country's small contribution to climate change, the people of the Philippines are suffering greatly and this is an immense injustice. Carbon majors like Shell are harming our lives, livelihoods, health and property by continuing to drill for oil. You must stop this destructive business, uphold climate justice and pay for the loss and damage.”
Victorine Che Thöner, a climate justice activist from Greenpeace International who is also on board the Arctic Sunrise, said: “My family in Cameroon is going through long periods of drought, which has led to crop failures and increased living costs. Rivers dry up and long-awaited rains fail to materialize. When it finally rains, there is so much that it floods everything - houses, fields, roads - and again people struggle to adapt and survive.
“But this crisis is not limited to one part of the world. I live in Germany and last year so many crops withered due to long heatwaves and drought - my own fruit and vegetables I grew in my small field perished - and forest fires devastated fauna and flora and caused air pollution.
“There is one key player fueling the parallel climate, nature and livelihood crises: fossil fuel companies. It is time to build new forms of life and collaboration that work for people, not polluters, and that restore nature instead of destroying it.”
Reacting to Shell's staggering gains, Elena Polisano, Senior Climate Justice Activist at Greenpeace UK said: “Shell benefits from climate destruction and immense human suffering. As Shell counts its record-breaking billions, people around the world are counting the damage from the record-breaking droughts, heatwaves and floods this oil giant is fueling. This is the stark reality of climate injustice and we must end it.
“World leaders have just set up a new fund to pay for the losses and damage caused by the climate crisis. Now they are supposed to force historic mega-sinners like Shell to pay. It's time to make the polluters pay. Had they changed their business and moved away from fossil fuels sooner, we wouldn't be in such a deep crisis. It's time they stop drilling and start paying.”
Shell's unprecedented profits are likely to draw negative attention to the company and its new boss Sawan. Although Shell will soon be paying tax in the UK for the first time since 2017, it has happily accepted £100m from UK taxpayers over the years and has recently come under fire for taking £200m from Ofgem for taking over residential energy customers, their suppliers , claimed bankruptcy.[2][3][4]
And rather than reinvesting its profits in clean, cheap renewable electricity that could lower bills, shore up Britain's energy security and mitigate the climate crisis, Shell has funneled billions back into shareholders' pockets in the form of buybacks.[5] In the first six months of 2022, Shell invested just 6,3% of its £17,1 billion profit in low-carbon energy - but they invested almost three times that in oil and gas.[6]
Notes
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64218703
[2] https://www.ft.com/content/23ec44b1-62fa-4e1c-aee7-94ec0ed728dd
[3] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/oil-gas-shell-energy-tax-b2142264.html
[4] https://www.cityam.com/shell-claimed-200m-from-ofgem-heaping-pressure-onto-household-bills/
[5] https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/27/energy/shell-profit-share-buybacks/index.html
[6] https://www.channel4.com/news/energy-companies-investing-just-5-of-profits-in-renewables
Which
Photos: Greenpeace
