Energy company Shell saw total greenhouse gas emissions fall by 16 percent last year, according to the company’s annual report.
The decrease was almost entirely due to lower demand for oil and gas due to the corona crisis rather than the company’s efforts to reduce emissions structurally.
According to Shell, total emissions last year amounted to 1.38 billion tons of carbon dioxide from nearly 1.65 billion tons in 2019.
By the measure that Shell focuses on in its energy transition strategy, the so-called net carbon intensity, emissions fell to 75 grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoule, which equates to a minus of 4 percent annual basis. The company assumes that fossil fuel production can grow if carbon emissions are compensated.
Shell has already started a major reorganization to switch from oil and gas to low-carbon energy and energy trading. The ultimate goal is to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the middle of this century.
According to critics, Shell is not doing nearly enough to reduce CO2 emissions. According to a previous Milieudefensie report, Shell is not really concerned with reducing CO2 emissions but is mainly masked by using sufficient renewable energy in return.
Since 2017, Shell’s absolute CO2 emissions would have increased by more than 5 percent while its so-called carbon footprint has decreased slightly, the complainants said.