LONDON (AFP) – United Kingdom (UK) oil and gas giant Shell on Thursday watered down key targets on cutting carbon emissions, sparking anger from climate campaigners, but kept its pledge for net zero by 2050.
The London-listed group, which is investing heavily in renewables, revealed the news in an energy transition update published alongside its annual report.
Shell said it had diluted climate targets, including on “net carbon intensity”, a measurement of emissions produced by each unit of energy sold by Shell.
The group said net carbon intensity would be cut 15-20 per cent by 2030 compared to 2016 levels.
That marked a dilution from its previous 20-per-cent target owing to a slowdown in electricity sales.
For the first time, Shell gave a target on curbing customer emissions from the use of its oil products – so-called Scope 3 emissions – with a reduction of 15-20 per cent by 2030 compared with 2021.
“Achieving this ambition will mean reducing sales of oil products, such as petrol and diesel, as we support customers as they move to electric mobility and lower-carbon fuels,” Shell said.
The company maintained its plan to halve emissions generated from its own operations – Scope 1 and 2 activities – by 2030 compared with 2016.
It achieved 60 per cent of this target by the end of 2023.
