Shell case studies

Shell’s long history of pollution and human rights violations in Nigeria includes collaborating with the Nigerian state to bring about the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine.

Protesters posing as brand ambassadors for the oil giant Shell greeted guests at the launch of the Manchester Science and Industry Museum (SIM)’s new ‘Electricity: the spark of life’ exhibition, which marked the start of the Manchester Science Festival. The activists at first appeared to promote the company while in fact highlighting how impossible it is to defend Shell’s massive extraction of fossil fuels when the world is facing climate crisis.

A group that includes many leading climate scientists have lodged a formal complaint with the Science Museum, accusing it of ‘undermining its integrity as a scientific institution’ by partnering with BP, Shell and Statoil despite their continued contribution to climate change.

All fossil fuel companies invest large amounts in PR campaigns in a bid to shape their public perception. But Shell has been one of the most active, developing elaborately emotive billboard posters, slick television commercials and educational events, to give the impression that its business plans are ‘greener’ than they really are.

While operating in Nigeria, Shell gave millions of dollars to the Nigerian military and other armed groups, exacerbating conflict and fuelling human rights abuses in the country.

Oil companies get many benefits out of sponsoring a museum, from boosting their brand image to sipping wine alongside politicians at exhibition openings. But Shell wanted to get more for its money and tried to interfere in an exhibition’s content.

‘Iraq is the big oil prospect,’ began the minutes of a meeting at the Foreign Office. ‘BP are desperate to get in there.’ Four months later, a war would begin that would cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and destroy a country. But with about ten percent of the world’s oil beneath its soil, for BP Iraq meant business.

Shell pours millions into lobbying policymakers to act in its corporate interest. Given the company’s dependence on fossil fuels for profit, this often means splashing the cash to try and stymie the progress of renewable energy.

Shell spills oil all over Nigeria, fails to clean it up, and tries to hide the damage…

Oil companies have successfully lobbied to block numerous climate regulations and undermine support for clean energy.

Oil companies have caused huge damage by spreading doubt about the seriousness of climate change and fuelling climate science denial.

Shell has been aware of climate change for over 30 years, but the company’s been telling the public a very different story.

June 2018 Fossil fuels are big money, and those who manage the companies which extract them aren’t exactly known for turning down their multi-million-dollar bonuses.

Senior executives at Shell knowingly took part in a vast bribery scheme that robbed the Nigerian people of $1.1billion. Now, the company and its staff are on trial in what is perhaps the biggest corruption case the oil industry has ever seen.

If countries are serious about limiting climate change, approximately 80 percent of the fossil fuels we already know about will need to be left in the ground. However, the business models of major oil companies rely on continuing to use fossil fuels at similar levels over the coming decades. This puts them on a direct collision course with genuine efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Question: How do you convince the world your business plan won’t cause disasterous climate change?

Answer: Make up some numbers to pretend it’ll be fine, while not actually changing anything.

Thanks to its Swiss subsidiaries and its use of tax havens, Shell managed to pay no corporation tax in the UK in 2014, despite making a global profit of £19.87 billion. In 2016, the oil company did even better – it received a £112 million tax rebate from the UK government, again despite making billions in global profits.