Environmentalists
say Shell’s involvement in exploiting reserves in the Arctic undermines its
attempt to portray itself as a responsible oil and gas company keen to tackle
global warming. While references to the Arctic are ruled out, the memo says
“you can mention instead oil, gas, wind, nuclear energy”. Greenpeace – which
received the leaked email – believes the competition is being run in a bid to
influence younger people in the run-up to critical climate change talks convened
by the United Nations in Paris in December.
The email appears
to be written by one Zooppa staffer to another - While the Anglo-Dutch group
has insisted it needs to drill off Alaska this summer as part of an effort to
see whether it can find oil and replenish the world’s reserves, the email
suggests Shell realises its operations in the Chukchi Sea could lose it
support. A Shell spokesman is quoted as saying: “We said in our brief that we
wanted to get these films noticed by Vice, but we didn’t expect it to happen
this way. At no point was any direction given by Shell to our agency to advise
entrants against mentioning the Arctic in their films. We’ve taken the agency
outside and given it a stern talking to, and it is now absolutely clear on
this. It is stated that Zooppa declined
to comment.
Royal Dutch Shell
has been accused of pursuing a strategy that would lead to potentially
catastrophic climate change after an internal document acknowledged a global
temperature rise of 4C, twice the level considered safe for the planet. A paper
used for guiding future business planning at the Anglo-Dutch multinational
assumes that carbon dioxide emissions will fail to limit temperature increases
to 2C, the internationally agreed threshold to prevent widespread flooding,
famine and desertification. Instead, the New Lens Scenarios document refers to a
forecast by the independent International Energy Agency (IEA) that points to a
temperature rise of up to 4C in the short term, rising later to 6C.
The revelations
come ahead of the annual general meeting of Shell shareholders in the
Netherlands on Tuesday, where the group has accepted a shareholder resolution
demanding more transparency about the group’s impact on climate change. Hundreds of environmentalists took to the
seas off Seattle in kayaks, canoes and paddleboards on Sunday to protest
against the company’s controversial plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean. The
“Shell No” protest was held close to where Shell’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig
is docked. One banner read: “We can’t burn all the oil on the planet and still
live on it.”
Charlie Kronick,
climate campaigner at campaign group Greenpeace, said Shell and IEA saw fossil
fuels continuing to be burned, with the earth facing temperature rises of 3.7°C
or 4°C in the short term, mounting to 6°C later on. According to a consultant of Greenpeace
- “There is an incoherence at best
between oil companies on the one hand positioning themselves as being on the
side of the world’s developing countries and while on the other actively
pursuing strategies which will entail catastrophic climate change which we already
know is having a significant impact on the global south,” she said. Friends of
the Earth in the Netherlands, which has carried out its own review of
activities by the Anglo-Dutch oil group, said the company often argues that it
is moving away from oil towards cleaner gas but has often concentrated on the
most carbon intensive forms of gas such as liquefied natural gas. Shell’s
carbon dioxide emissions have risen in 2014 and are set to increase further as
it expands the business through a planned £47bn takeover of rival BG.
The Guardian’s Keep
it in the Ground campaign seeks to persuade the Wellcome Trust and the Gates
Foundation to divest themselves of their shareholdings in fossil fuel
companies. Thousands of people have signed the petition started by this.
To
get back to some history of Shell in India - set up in 1928, The Burmah-Shell
Oil Storage and Distributing Company of India Limited was a pioneer in more
ways than one, and began operations with import and marketing of Kerosene. It
pioneered rural marketing by reaching out to people even in remote villages to
ensure supply of kerosene. With motor cars, came canned petrol, followed by
service stations which were built in the 1930s.
In Oct 1932, the company fueled J.R.D. Tata's historic solo flight in a single
engine de Havilland Puss Moth from Karachi to Bombay (Juhu) via Ahmedabad. In Jan 1976, the Burmah Shell Group of
Companies was taken over by the Government of India.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
18th May 2015.
