Our response to climate change
Shell UK fully supports the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UK government’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
If the world is to avoid the most serious effects of climate change, global warming must be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as laid out in the UN Paris Climate Agreement.
In support of this goal, Shell has a group target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society. To get there, we are transforming our business: reducing emissions from our operations, providing more low-carbon energy and working with our customers as they make changes too.
In October 2021, we announced a new target to halve our absolute emissions by 50% by 2030, compared to 2016 levels on a net basis. This covers all scope 1 and scope 2 emissions under Shell’s operational control. This means all emissions from our own operations, like refining, producing oil and gas, and manufacturing chemical products, as well as all the emissions from the energy we buy to run these operations, like electricity, heat, and steam.
Shell in the UK
We are committed to playing our part in meaningful change to the energy system. In the UK, we are contributing to eight of the UK government's 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. We are also developing nascent businesses, such as CCS and hydrogen, that will need to scale up after 2030 to meet the Climate Change Committee’s sixth Carbon Budget and help the UK towards the government target of reaching net zero by 2050.
Shell provided input to the Committee for Climate Change’s 2019 report which recommended that net-zero emissions should be achieved in the UK by 2050. The government has subsequently accepted this recommendation, and on June 27, 2019, it became law, making the UK the first G7 country to pass such legislation, marking an important milestone in the global fight against climate change.
Electric mobility, renewables and energy solutions
Shell is building an integrated power business incorporating low-carbon and renewable electricity. Through Shell Energy, we provided home electricity to nearly a million customers in Great Britain. We continue to invest in electric mobility infrastructure and in September 2021 - set an ambition to install 50,000 on-street chargers across the UK by 2025.
We are also innovating in renewable energy trading. In June 2021, Europe’s largest battery storage project, the 100-megawatt system in Minety in Wiltshire, South West England, became fully operational. Controlled and optimised by Limejump, which Shell acquired in 2019, the battery will help balance the UK’s electricity demand, providing electricity for up to 10,000 homes for a day on a single charge. And we are looking at new roles for CCS and hydrogen to help the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors like manufacturing and heavy industry.
Listening to society
Every year in the UK we engage in an active programme of events. We work with others from industry, government and civil society who challenge and expand our thinking.
Listen to our Energy Transition Manager, Jo Coleman, speaking on a Westwood Energy Transition Now podcast:
Watch UK Country Chair David Bunch spoke at the Zemo Partnership’s Annual Conference:
Hear Shell VP for Electric Mobility on a Spectator podcast:
To keep up to date with Shell UK’s views on the energy transition you can follow our Country Chair David Bunch on LinkedIn, or join the conversation on Twitter.
Carbon Capture and Storage
Shell is also investing in CCS projects, which use a combination of technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide deep underground.
In Scotland, Shell, is one of three equal partners in the Acorn project, which looks to provide critical CCS and hydrogen infrastructure that will help the UK to decarbonise.
Shell is also part of the Northern Endurance Partnership, working to develop the offshore CCS infrastructure needed to safely decarbonise two major industrial clusters in the UK – Net Zero Teesside and Zero Carbon Humber. If successful, the development of this infrastructure could help support the decarbonisation of nearly 50% of the emissions from the UK's industrial hubs.
In South Wales, Shell is part of the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC), a group looking to decarbonise the region using, amongst other technologies, CCS. South Wales is the second largest industrial emitter in the UK, releasing the equivalent of 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year across industry and energy generation and so the SWIC project could help to significantly reduce emissions and improve air quality in the area.
The role for oil and gas to provide a stable energy transition
Scenarios from the UK’s Climate Change Committee, as well as our own scenarios, point to a steady decline in oil and gas demand to the middle of the century. But the UK will still be a significant net importer of gas in 2050, and just about self-sufficient in oil. So, the UK will continue to need oil and gas from the North Sea.
Shell today supplies around 10% of the UK’s total oil and gas needs. Our gas plants, pipeline systems and import terminals deliver more than 20% of the UK’s gas supply.
Our industry is also working, in partnership with UK Government, to deliver the North Sea Transition Deal to transform the sector. This aims to retain the upstream skills, capabilities and supply chain which are vital to delivering the energy transition and which could give the UK first mover advantage in emerging low-carbon sectors such as CCS and hydrogen.
Carbon pricing and nature-based solutions
Shell is encouraging governments to put a price on carbon. This aims to incentivise industry, the power sector and consumers to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and help encourage projects such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) facilities and nature-based solutions.
Nature-based solutions comprise all activities related to the protection, creation or redevelopment, of natural ecosystems – such as forests, grasslands and wetlands – to help absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. They can help deliver many other benefits, including improvements in biodiversity, water quality, flood protection and livelihoods.
Shell scenarios
One of the ways we explore what the future energy system might look like is by developing energy-focused scenarios that help us inform our strategy.
Shell scenarios ask “what if?” questions encouraging leaders to consider events that may only be remote possibilities and stretch their thinking. Our scenarios also help governments, academia, and business in understanding possibilities and uncertainties ahead.
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated significant turning points, with shifts across almost all societies and economies. It has exposed tensions and weaknesses in the global systems – but also shifted policy and behaviour in ways that open new possibilities for the future.
In response, in 2021, we published our new scenarios - Waves, Islands, and Sky 1.5. All three explore different initial recovery responses to the crises of 2020, and how these develop into future pathways towards global energy transformation.
Watch: How is Shell accelerating to net zero?
Title: Scope Emissions FC2
Duration: 8:34 minutes
Description:
A video of Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell, describing how the company plans to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Scope Emissions Master Transcript
[Background music plays]
Synthesised background music with a repetitive and simplistic motif.
[Text displays]
How is Shell accelerating to net-zero?
[Video footage]
Footage of a calm ocean with a blue-sky background. A white wind turbine is turning close to the camera and others are dispersed at even intervals in the background.
Interview with Ben van Beurden
[Title]
Ben van Beurden, CEO, Shell
[Video footage]
A head and shoulders shot of Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell, sitting at a table with a glass of water in front of him. He is wearing a dark suit with an open collar. A wooden blind covers a window behind him.
[Ben van Beurden]
Becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 in-step with society. Nice words, you say, but what does it actually mean?
[Video footage]
Side view of Ben van Beurden in the same room, before the footage cuts to an oil refinery at sea with a boat at the forefront of the shot. We then see an energy plant infrastructure, followed by a close-up shot of a person charging their car from a Shell Recharge station and a second person using a Shell Hydrogen station.
[Ben van Beurden]
Well, it means net-zero emissions when we produce and process energy, and net-zero emissions when people use the energy we sell.
[Text displays]
Achieving net-zero emissions.
[Video footage]
An overhead shot of a single white wind turbine, turning over a dark ocean. The footage then goes back to the same head and shoulders shot of Ben van Beurden, followed by a time-lapse clip of the Eiffel Tower and its surrounding buildings with clouds moving quickly past the scene. We then see a shot of the sun’s rays shining down over a dense evergreen forest.
[Text displays]
Limit the global rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
[Ben van Beurden]
This is the target at the heart of our Powering Progress strategy, and it supports the more ambitious goal of the United Nations Paris Agreement, which is to limit the global rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
[Video footage]
Back to the head and shoulders footage of Ben van Beurden, as before. This cuts to a timelapse video of a busy city, where large numbers of people and cars are moving around the scene. We then see more timelapse footage of an office block. The lights inside the building are lit and workers move around behind the windows. More timelapse video footage shows a busy underground station, which cuts to a slow-motion low-view shot of a person’s feet walking through a busy town.
[Ben van Beurden]
Let’s be clear, this is not something that Shell can realise alone. To get there, society as a whole needs to act now.
[Video footage]
Back to the head and shoulders footage of Ben van Beurden.
[Ben van Beurden]
To understand how best to address our emissions, we first need to know how much we are generating and where these emissions come from. So, let me briefly explain how Shell defines and measures its emissions.
[Background music]
Dramatic synthesised music with string accompaniment.
[Video footage]
A birds-eye-view shot of an energy plant infrastructure. Then the camera cuts to a close-up view of the plant. More overhead footage cuts briefly to Ben van Beurden, before showing a distant view of the same infrastructure.
[Text displays]
Scope 1.
[Video footage]
The screen splits to also show overhead footage of three pylons surrounded by countryside.
[Text displays]
Scope 2
[Video footage]
The screen splits for a third time, showing timelapse footage of many vehicles moving along a busy road, surrounded by skyscraper-style buildings.
[Ben van Beurden]
We use the globally recognised Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which categorises emissions as Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3.
[Video footage]
The same head and shoulders shot of Ben van Beurden, as before.
[Ben van Beurden]
And you will see this method used across all of our reporting, to make it transparent and simple.
[Video footage]
Aerial shot of a Shell energy plant. The word Shell is emblazoned on one of the chimneys. A digitalised yellow arrow sweeps in from the foreground with the words, Scope 1, written on it in white.
[Ben van Beurden]
So, what are Scope 1 emissions?
[Video footage]
A series of clips featuring the same yellow arrow sweeping in from various directions with the words, Scope 1, written on it in white. A mid-view shot of a smoking metal chimney with the view of a town in the background. A bird’s-eye-view of a large energy plant infrastructure with a tall, brown chimney in the foreground. Then an oil rig surrounded by ocean water as the camera pans right. The arrow then moves across two images of a Shell energy plant, the first of which has the Shell pecten logo on it.
[Ben van Beurden]
Well, they are the direct emissions from all our operations, which includes oil and gas expiration, and product, processing, refining and chemicals production.
[Video footage]
A second series of clips featuring a digitalised grey arrow moving across various scenes, with the words Scope 2 written on it in white. The first footage shows a mid-view shot of several pylons in a yellow field. This cuts to three more pylons in the countryside, before changing to a long-distance view of many large chimneys with smoke pouring out of them.
[Ben van Beurden]
Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions. So, the emissions from energy we buy to run our operations, such as electricity, steam, heat and cooling.
[Video footage]
A third series of video clips with a digitalised blue arrow sweeping across various scenes. The words, Scope 3, are written on the arrow in white. An overhead view of a loaded cargo ship leaving a dock and heading out to sea. This cuts to timelapse footage of an airport’s runways at night, with the lights of the commercial planes moving around the scene. Then a birds-eye-view timelapse shot of a traffic jam at night on a busy motorway, followed by close-up footage of a hand turning up the heating on a digital thermostat. We then see more timelapse footage of a busy city, with cars moving rapidly along a busy road with tall buildings in the background.
[Ben van Beurden]
Finally, Scope 3. These are our customers’ emissions, primarily from their use of the energy products that we sell. But also the life-cycle emissions of energy products that we buy from others and then sell to other customers.
[Background music plays]
The music softens to a quieter, synthesised sound with a fast beat.
[Video footage]
The camera slowly pans in on wide angle bird’s-eye-view of an energy plant infrastructure. A digitalised yellow arrow appears with the words, Scope 1, written on it in white.
[Text displays]
Shell’s Total Emissions 2019. 80m tonnes CO2e. Scope 1, 70m tonnes CO2e.
[Ben van Beurden]
To get a sense of what this means, let’s imagine this square represents all of Shell’s emissions for 2019, and of this total, some 80 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent were from emissions under our operational control. This includes Scope 1, the yellow block here, which accounted for some 70 million tonnes.
[Video footage]
Camera pans in on three pylons at sunset with an orange-sky background. A digitalised grey block appears with the words, Scope 2, written on it in white.
[Text displays]
Scope 2, 10m tonnes CO2e.
[Ben van Beurden]
And Scope 2 emissions, the grey block, some 10 million tonnes.
[Video footage]
Bird’s-eye-view of many interlinking roads with cars moving along them. We see a car park in the bottom right corner of the shot.
[Text displays]
1,551m tonnes CO2e. Scope 3.
[Ben van Beurden]
Now, in comparison, some 1,551 million tonnes of emissions, resulted from the use of the energy products that we sold to our customers. So, Scope 3 emissions.
[Video footage]
Rapid timelapse footage showing a close-up of a vehicle’s speedometer. The camera cuts to move quickly along a series of roads at night. Then a close-up of a fuel station dial, followed by an image of the fuel pumps with the Shell logo on them. Next, we see a view from the side of a car as it moves along a road, then footage from a camera panning right across an airport with Shell vehicles in front of a white plane. This changes to close-up footage of a person filling up the plane with fuel and a shot of a Shell lorry with the words, Shell Lubricants, written on it. There are large blue containers in the background emblazoned with the Shell pecten logo.
[Ben van Beurden]
Shell sells around four times the amount of energy that we produce ourselves.
[Video footage]
Timelapse video footage from inside a vehicle as it moves along a busy road at night. Then timelapse footage of cargo ships moving around a dock. The shot cuts as the camera pans right along a stack of green canisters with, biofuel, written on them. Two mid-view shots of a person’s hand as they put fuel in their cars. Camera then pans down in a close-up view of the Shell pecten logo with the words, Shell LNG, written underneath it. We then see a bird’s-eye-view of a pylon in the countryside, cutting to footage of two men shaking hands and smiling into the camera. One man is giving a thumbs-up and the other is wearing a yellow tabard with the Shell pecten logo on it.
[Ben van Beurden]
So, by addressing the emissions of all our customers, not just what we produce but what we sell, we have one of the most comprehensive targets in the energy industry.
[Video footage]
Ben van Beurden talking into the camera, as before.
[Text displays]
1,700m tonnes CO2e. Net-zero emissions by 2050.
[Ben van Beurden]
We believe our total carbon emissions from energy sold peaked in 2018 at around 1,700 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Now, to reach net zero emissions, a target by 2050, Shell will need to reduce that to zero. Yes, zero. This is how we’re going to do it.
[Video footage]
Mid-view shot of a large Shell pecten on the side of a building, which cuts to a more distant shot of the same scene. A digitalised green arrow moves down the wall of the building. The arrow is next to a digitalised chart, with 2016 at the top, 2030 in the middle and 2050, net-zero, at the bottom. Numbers appear on the arrow as it moves towards 2050. The numbers steadily rise to 50% by the time they reach 2030. Footage then cuts back to Ben van Beurden.
[Ben van Beurden]
We have set an absolute emissions reduction target of 50% by 2030 and that’s compared to 2016 levels, covering all our Scope 1 and 2 emissions under our operational control. Now, our current business plans do not enable us to reach this target and these plans will need to change.
[Video footage]
Bird’s-eye-view from a camera panning right across an energy station. This cuts to a close-up shot of a person using a Shell Recharge station to fuel their vehicle. We then see a person in the driver’s seat of a Shell LNG lorry, before a new shot of a Shell Hydrogen filling station. The footage goes back to Ben van Beurden talking into the camera.
[Ben van Beurden]
We have also set specific carbon intensity targets, for the short, the medium and the long-term, to manage the change required in our business and every unit of energy we sell, with executive pay tied to these short-term targets. We’ve also identified how best to tackle the emissions from each Scope in different ways.
[Video footage]
The camera rises over a large energy plant with chimneys, then pans right across a similar scene before showing an aerial view of an integrated gas plant. We then see footage from inside the plant, before the video cuts to a distant view of a ship near a shore. Then a distant bird’s-eye view of an oil station at sea, followed by a closer view from inside the station.
[Text displays]
Scope 3. 1,551m tonnes CO2e. Scope 1, 70m tonnes CO2e. Downstream, refining and chemicals. Integrated gas, GTL and LNG. Upstream, oil and gas.
[Ben van Beurden]
Take Scope 1 emissions, the 70 million tonnes. Over half of these come from our downstream business, primarily refining and chemicals, followed by emissions from integrated gas, which is the production of gas to liquid, GTL, and the production of liquified natural gas or LNG, and finally, emissions from upstream, so oil and gas production.
[Video footage]
Back to the shot of Ben van Beurden.
[Text displays]
Five integrated energy and chemical parks. Methane-intensity target. Elimination of routine flaring. Carbon capture and storage technology.
[Ben van Beurden]
So, to lower our Scope 1 emissions, we’re working on various plans, such as transforming our refineries and chemicals plants into just five integrated energy and chemical parks to make them more efficient, and making improvements to existing operations by addressing methane intensity, eliminate routine flaring and using carbon capture and storage technology to safely lock away CO2 underground.
[Video footage]
Close-up footage of a large pipe with a sign that reads, CO2 to pipeline, then a distant shot of the same scene. We then briefly go back to the footage of Ben van Beurden, followed by shots of Shell wind turbines at sea and footage of a field full of solar panels.
[Ben van Beurden]
To reduce Scope 2 emissions, the 10 million tonnes, Shell is already shifting to purchasing renewable power to run our own operations.
[Video footage]
Camera slowly moves through a busy city at night, with lights from cars and buildings illuminating the scene. A digitalised blue box appears with text on it. This changes to a blue circle with white line drawings to represent the text as it changes.
[Text displays]
Scope 2. 1,551m tonnes CO2e. Diesel and GTL. LNG. Pipeline gas. Gasolines. Kerosenes. Fuel oil. Power. Other oil products. Biofuel.
[Ben van Beurden]
And lastly, successfully addressing our Scope 3 emissions, the 1,551 million tonnes, this means a big change in the products we currently sell and this is central to our Powering Progress strategy.
[Video footage]
Camera pans up from the roof of a building, showing a view of a city at night. A green circle appears, with white line drawings to represent the text.
[Text displays]
Low and zero carbon products. Electricity. Synfuels. Ammonia. Natural gas with CCS. Battery. Biofuels. Hydrogen.
[Ben van Beurden]
It means offering low and zero carbon products and solutions to all of our customers, to help them avoid, reduce and mitigate their emissions.
[Video footage]
A close-up shot of a person’s hand turning up the dial on a digital thermostat. This cuts to a person holding a tablet, then close-up footage of someone using a Shell Recharge pump to power their car, followed by a person swiping up on their mobile phone.
[Ben van Beurden]
And critically, it also means working with customers and others to transform energy use and encourage the uptake of these lower carbon products.
[Video footage]
Footage goes back to Ben van Beurden talking into the camera. Then see a Shell Hydrogen station with two people walking towards the pumps. A close-up view of the hydrogen pump being placed into the car’s receptacle, then a finger pressing a start button. Following this, we see timelapse footage of cars moving along a busy road at night.
[Ben van Beurden]
Together, we must find solutions to bring down the cost of supply, by encouraging the right mandates and investment in infrastructure, as well as ensuring customers’ vehicles and equipment are ready for our products across all sectors.
[Video footage]
More footage of Ben van Beurden, as before. Then a low view shot from underneath a lorry as it moves alongside a second vehicle on a road. We see a white car moving along a road towards the camera, then a bird’s-eye-view of a house with solar panels on the roof. Digitalised white images of appear on screen to illustrate the text.
[Text displays]
Heavy duty road transport. H2. Personal transport. H2. Home heating.
[Ben van Beurden]
So, take heavy-duty road transport. As a viable option to diesel, Shell is providing biofuels, hydrogen and charging services, while jointly working on the required changes to enable the shift to these products. In personal transport, drivers switching to a battery electric car or van can choose Shell charging as an alternative to petrol. In home heating, Shell Energy’s renewable electricity is a viable alternative to gas, once customers have installed the appropriate equipment.
[Video footage]
Low view shot from underneath a commercial plane as it flies from left to right across the screen. This cuts to footage taken from in front of a cargo ship as it moves towards the camera, then timelapse footage from inside a factory as two people use large machinery to construct a car. Back to the footage of Ben van Beurden.
[Ben van Beurden]
In hard to decarbonise sectors, like aviation and shipping and industry, different energy solutions, driven by government policy, technology availability and the pace its adoption will be required.
[Video footage]
Bird’s-eye-views of wide, green forest with a lake in the distance and a river winding through the trees. Then back to Ben van Beurden.
[Ben van Beurden]
High-quality, nature-based carbon credits could also play a valuable role in decarbonisation. Of course, we recognise that different countries will choose different solutions on various timelines, but what’s certain is that we have to act together.
[Video footage]
Two shots of people working in an office, smiling and chatting whilst holding sheets of paper in their hands. This cuts to an audience of people at a conference, then another shot of an industrial plant. We then see a car pulling into a Shell V-Power station and a slow-motion clip of a crowded street from a ground-level shot, before going back to Ben van Beurden.
[Ben van Beurden]
Significant collaboration between governments, industry, customers, society as a whole is vital in transforming both supply and demand, sector by sector. And the ambitious action needed at all levels of government and internationally is recognised in Shell’s global climate and energy transition policy principles.
[Video footage]
Timelapse footage of vehicles speeding along a road with a city background at dusk. Then back to Ben van Beurden.
[Ben van Beurden]
Shell is working as the partner for sustainable economy-wide change and to accelerate decarbonisation of the energy services that we offer to Power Progress together.
[Video footage]
Overhead view of lush, green trees. A digitalised Shell yellow and red pecten appears in the centre of the screen.
[Text displays]
Copyright Shell International Limited 2021
[Audio]
Shell brand mnemonic plays.
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