Ambitions
Tackling climate change is an urgent challenge. Shell intends to contribute to a net zero world where society stops adding to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. That is why the company has set a target to become a net zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society and its customers. This supports the more ambitious goal to tackle climate change laid out in the Paris Agreement: to limit the rise in average global temperature to 1.5° Celsius.
Shell’s target covers the emissions from its operations and from the use of all the energy products it sells. And, importantly, it includes emissions from the oil and gas that others produce and Shell then sells as products to customers, making the target comprehensive.
Investments
In the near term, Shell will rebalance its portfolio, investing annually $5 billion–$6 billion in its Growth pillar (around $3 billion in Marketing and $2 billion–$3 billion in Renewables and Energy Solutions); $8 billion–$9 billion in its Transition pillar (around $4 billion in Integrated Gas; $4 billion–$5 billion in Chemicals and Products); and around $8 billion in Upstream.
Shell will seek access to an additional 25 million tons a year of carbon capture and storage (CCS) capacity by 2035. Currently, three key CCS projects of which Shell is a part—Quest in Canada (in operation), Northern Lights in Norway (sanctioned), and Porthos in The Netherlands (planned)—will total around 4.5 million tons of capacity.
Innovations
The company aims to use nature-based solutions, in line with the philosophy of avoid, reduce, and only then mitigate, to offset emissions of around 120 million tons a year by 2030, with those it uses being of the highest independently verified quality.
The company will work with the Science Based Targets Initiative, Transition Pathway Initiative, and others to develop standards for the industry and align with those standards.
Other Actions
Shell will continue with short-term targets that will drive down carbon emissions as it makes progress toward its 2050 target linked to the remuneration of more than 16,500 staff. This includes a new set of targets to reduce its net carbon intensity: 6%–8% by 2023, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035, and 100% by 2050, using a baseline of 2016.
The company is partnering with customers, businesses, and others to address emissions, including in sectors that are difficult to decarbonize such as aviation, shipping, road freight, and manufacturing. Partnering with others consists of supporting government policies to reduce carbon emissions sector by sector. Shell will continue to drive innovation to provide the cleaner energy that its customers need.
Learn more about these changes and read important notes on net zero emissions.
