Shell controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2023
Multnomah County sues ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, NW Natural and others over climate damages
Lawsuit filed
Multnomah County filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $52 billion from more than a dozen major oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, and NW Natural, as well as industry lobbyists and McKinsey & Company. The suit seeks to hold these parties responsible for climate change impacts affecting the county, including the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome.
Multnomah County filed a nearly $52 billion lawsuit against more than a dozen major oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, and NW Natural, as well as industry lobbyists and McKinsey & Company, seeking to hold them responsible for climate change impacts including the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome.
Stated objective. to hold the defendants responsible for climate change and its local impacts
Source excerpt
Multnomah County’s lawsuit, filed in 2023 and amended in 2024 to add new defendants, is more than 200 pages long
Multnomah County’s lawsuit names companies including ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, and NW Natural, as well as industry lobbyists and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
2022
Oil companies’ board members declined climate hearing invitations
Issue disclosure
An opinion article reports that board members of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and BP declined invitations to appear at a U.S. House hearing on the companies’ climate pledges. Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney said the companies had advertised their climate plans and greenwashed their images; this is an allegation, not a formal finding.
Source excerpt
when the committee invited board members of these companies to come in today and explain their pledges, they declined to appear on the date we requested.
Perhaps worried about their deception being exposed, the executives and board members of these fossil fuel companies snubbed members of Congress at a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on February 8, 2022.
these companies "have spent millions to advertise these plans [to combat climate change] and greenwash their images."
2022
Shell appeals Nigerian oil-spill judgment
Lawsuit filed
Shell appealed a Nigerian judgment awarding community members 800 billion naira over alleged pipeline pollution. The judgment found that a pipeline operated by Shell spilled crude oil that damaged land and waterways; Shell and its joint-venture partner denied that spills occurred on the alleged dates.
Source excerpt
The energy giant is challenging a November 2020 judgment in favor of community members claiming a leak from a company pipeline damaged their land and waterways.
A Nigerian court will hear Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s appeal to overturn an almost $2 billion award against the company for allegedly spilling oil in the West African country.
Shell and the NNPC deny that spills occurred on the alleged dates and say the claim against them is “unsubstantiated, vague and exaggerated,” according to the ruling.
2021
Climate litigation in the Netherlands
The Hague District Court ordered Shell to reduce its group-wide carbon emissions more rapidly. The ruling was challenged on appeal and became one of the most consequential legal disputes over the climate obligations of a major energy company.
2021
Drive CO2 Neutral greenwashing complaint
A Dutch advertising watchdog found Shell's carbon-offset fuel advertising misleading because the campaign conveyed that a small surcharge could fully neutralize the emissions from fuel use without adequate substantiation.
2021
New York City sues oil companies over alleged false advertising
Lawsuit filed
New York City filed a lawsuit charging Exxon, Shell, BP and the American Petroleum Institute with systematically and intentionally deceiving New Yorkers about the dangers of their products. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the industry's advertising violated New York consumer-protection laws. The source reports allegations, not a court determination.
Company response
Denial — Exxon
"These lawsuits have no merit and do nothing to advance meaningful efforts that address climate change," said Exxon spokesman Casey Norton.
Denial — Shell
Shell is "disappointed" by the suit and believes climate change requires "inclusive action from all business sectors, including ours," said spokeswoman Anna Arata.
Denial — American Petroleum Institute
The industry provides affordable energy "while substantially reducing emissions," said Paul Afonso, API's chief legal officer, adding that the suit is "meritless."
Denial — ExxonMobil
“These lawsuits have no merit and do nothing to advance meaningful efforts that address climate change,” Casey Norton, a spokesperson for ExxonMobil, said in an emailed response to the new lawsuit.
Source excerpt
New York City has filed a lawsuit charging some of the world’s biggest oil companies with systematically and intentionally deceiving New Yorkers about the dangers posed by their products.
We’re specifically targeting Exxon, Shell, BP and the American Petroleum Institute, which is the trade group for Big Oil.
The lawsuit said Exxon Mobil Corp, BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell and industry group the American Petroleum Institute "have systematically and intentionally misled consumers" through fuel sales at branded stations as "cleaner" and "emissions-reducing" while not disclosing climate impacts.
2021
Environmental groups criticize Shell’s Wild Coast seismic survey plan
Public backlash
Environmental groups and animal-rights activists criticized Shell’s planned offshore seismic survey along South Africa’s Wild Coast. Environmental and community groups argued that blasting could cause irreversible damage to the marine environment.
Source excerpt
Environmental and community groups argue that blasting causes irreversible damage to the marine environment.
The news that Shell plans to conduct a large-scale offshore seismic survey for gas and oil deposits along the Eastern Cape's Wild Coast has drawn criticism from environmental groups and animal rights activists
2021
South African court allows Shell seismic survey to proceed
Ruling
A South African court dismissed activist groups’ urgent application to block Shell’s offshore seismic survey, allowing Shell to proceed. The groups claimed the activity was linked to decreased sightings of marine life and lower commercial fishing catch rates; the judge described the asserted irreparable environmental harm as “speculative at best.”
Source excerpt
A South African court has ruled that Royal Dutch Shell Plc can proceed with a seismic survey offshore the East Coast, after dismissing a legal application by activist groups.
The assertion of irreparable harm to the marine environment was “speculative at best,” High Court Judge Avinash Govindjee said in the decision broadcast online.
Greenpeace was among organizations that filed an urgent court interdict this week to block the activity, used in the search for oil and gas resources, claiming it’s linked to decreased sightings of marine life and lower catch rates for commercial fishing.
2021
Shell pledges faster emissions cuts after Dutch court ruling
Company response
Shell said it would accelerate its carbon emissions cuts following a Dutch court ruling that its climate plans were insufficient. CEO Ben van Beurden said Shell still expected to appeal the verdict.
Company response
Ongoing disclosure — Shell
Royal Dutch Shell will accelerate its carbon emissions cuts, taking “bold but measured” steps in the transition to cleaner energy
Source excerpt
The oil and gas giant still expects to appeal the verdict and believes it has been unjustly singled out, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said in a statement posted on LinkedIn.
Royal Dutch Shell will accelerate its carbon emissions cuts, taking “bold but measured” steps in the transition to cleaner energy, following a Dutch court ruling last month that said the company’s climate plans weren’t sufficient.
2021
Annapolis sues fossil fuel companies over climate change
Lawsuit filed
The City of Annapolis filed a lawsuit against 26 oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell, alleging that their conduct contributed to climate-change costs and consequences.
Source excerpt
The City of Annapolis is suing 26 oil and gas companies for what it calls the costs and consequences of climate change.
The city filed the lawsuit Monday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. It names some of the biggest fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell.
The companies worked to deceive people of the danger, hiding their knowledge and engaging in an intentional campaign to mislead the public about the science, proving the growing danger posed by fossil fuels.
2020
Polish watchdog fines Gazprom over Nord Stream 2
Fine or penalty
Poland's anti-monopoly watchdog said it fined Gazprom more than 29 billion zlotys for building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline without its approval. The watchdog also said it fined five other firms involved in financing the project, including Uniper, Wintershall, Shell, OMV, and Engie.
Source excerpt
Uniper and BASF's Wintershall unit, Anglo-Dutch company Shell, Austria's OMV and Engie.
WARSAW: Poland's anti-monopoly watchdog said on Wednesday it had fined Russia's Gazprom more than 29 billion zlotys ($7.6 billion) for building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline without its approval.
The UOKiK watchdog also said it had imposed a 234 million zloty fine on five other firms involved in financing $11 billion project set to double Russia's gas export capacity via the
2019
Generation Discover environmental advertising reprimand
The Dutch Advertising Code Commission reprimanded Shell over claims to children that gas-to-liquids technology supported environmental improvement and a United Nations sustainable-development goal.
2019
UK ruling blocks enforcement of Nigerian spill judgment against Shell
Ruling
A UK judge overturned the registration of a Nigerian court judgment against Shell for spill damages, preventing its enforcement in the UK. The judge said the Nigerian proceedings were unfair because Shell had been denied an opportunity to present a defense. The community said it would appeal.
Company response
Denial — Shell
Shell said in a statement that the matter was still subject to legal proceedings in Nigeria and that it remained their position “that no payment was due.”
Source excerpt
Judge Jason Coppel on Thursday overturned an attempt to carry over a 2010 ruling by a Nigerian court to the UK, saying that those proceedings were unfair because Shell was denied an opportunity to present a defense.
Thursday’s judgment sets aside the registration, preventing its enforcement in the UK
They claimed that an oil spill by Shell had made their water sources unfit for human consumption.
2019
Court bars activists from entering Shell offshore platform safety zones
Ruling
A judge in Edinburgh ruled that protesters had no right to enter Shell's unmanned North Sea oil installations and barred them from coming within a 500-meter safety zone. Greenpeace opposed Shell's decommissioning plan and alleged that oily sediments could eventually leak into the sea.
Source excerpt
Royal Dutch Shell won a court ruling preventing environmental protesters from boarding unmanned oil installations in the North Sea.
A judge in Edinburgh, Scotland, said that the protesters had no right to enter the installations, and are now banned from going within a 500-meter (1,640-feet) safety zone around the platforms.
But Greenpeace opposed the company’s plan saying the platform “legs” contain oily sediments that would eventually leak into the sea.
1995
Brent Spar disposal controversy
Shell's proposed deep-sea disposal of the Brent Spar storage and loading facility prompted Greenpeace protests, consumer boycotts and political pressure. Shell withdrew the plan and later acknowledged that its handling of the issue had damaged public confidence.