The decade of the Just Transition has begun — but how do we radically and responsibly restructure Royal Dutch Shell and other carbon majors by any legal, political and economic means? Welcome to Future Beyond Shell: presenting you the latest research, stories and imaginaries!
More than 140 spatial designers and climate justice organisers came together to imagine how Royal Dutch Shell infrastructure will be decommissioned and repurposed in the coming decades. Their work is now published in the form of a speculative Just Transition design calendar. Download the calendar PDF Learn more about the project
In this first episode of a two-part series on Putin’s war on Ukraine and oil and gas, we focus on Shell’s business prospects and what room there is to wind Shell down. First, we ask, what does Shell’s and other fossil fuel companies’ exit from Russia mean for Shell economically and for the future of its business? Second, can such an exit somehow contribute towards a just energy transition?
January ’22 – Shell officially changed its name on Friday, ditching “Royal Dutch”, which has been part of its identity since 1907, following plans to scrap its dual share structure and move its head office from the Netherlands to Britain. “Shell announced the Board’s decision to change its name to Shell plc on December 20, 2021. This change has now taken effect,” Shell said in a filing. The change will not affect share ownership and the A shares and B shares will remain unchanged for the time being, Shell said.
January ’22- At least five Nigerian oil and gas companies are preparing to submit bids this month for Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) onshore oilfields in a sale that could fetch up to $3 billion, three sources involved in the process told Reuters. Shell started talks with the Nigerian government last year about selling its stake in the West African country’s onshore fields, where it has been active since the 1930s, as part of a global drive to reduce its carbon emissions. The Anglo-Dutch company has stakes in 19 oil mining leases in Nigeria’s onshore oil and gas joint venture (SPDC), which the industry and banking sources said were valued at $2 billion to $3 billion.
In this episode, we will discuss the role of court cases and strategic litigation as tactics to counter the power of fossil fuel companies at large, and Shell in particular. How effective is litigation in actually holding fossil fuel companies accountable and preventing disastrous climate breakdown? Can they account for the international nature of Shell and its contributions to global emissions? Are court cases a key tool to move towards a Future Beyond Shell?
In order to identify and assess the tools it may take to dismantle a corporation like Shell, we first need a good understanding of how the company operates in the context of the global political economy. What tactics have helped Shell to become the powerful oil and gas major it is today and which ones is it likely to pursue in future? Looking at the oil and gas sector at large we see that Europe’s listed oil companies lost a total of €360bn in market value and Shell has nursed an incredible 60% decline in market value in 2020. How has this changed in 2021? Is this the metric by which Shell and the larger fossil fuel sector measure their performance? What do the coming years hold for Shell, and how does this inform the tactics we use to unravel their power?
Can a company that puts profit before people possibly have the moral compass to navigate a just and fair energy transition? Read the Executive Summary below, and download the full report!
Learn more about the Energy Charter Treaty and other trade agreements: the insidious tools in Shell’s arsenal with which governments can be sued for climate action, and that can potentially shift Shell’s financial burden onto the shoulders of taxpayers.
What does it mean to talk about genuine, transformative, systemic, or redistributive change?
The case brought by the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, links the oil major’s stance on climate change with human rights. The ruling will also have implications for Shell’s European peers as pressure mounts on polluting energy companies to step up the fight against global warming.
Nigerian farmers win claim for compensation in The Hague after 13-year battle
In this episode and the next few, we are taking a slightly different approach. We want to take stock of a few major events in recent months, how they have affected Shell and the larger oil and gas sector, and what this means for strategies to dismantle Shell.
The fossil fuel world has been through major transformation in the past 6 months. In February 2022, Russia renewed her invasion of Ukraine, sending much of the world into a search for alternative sources of oil and gas as well as contributing to soaring fuel prices. Just a month earlier, in January 2022, Shell announced that she was moving her fiscal headquarters to the UK, after spending over a century in the Netherlands. How do these recent events affect the fossil fuel industry? Is a company like Shell stronger than ever, or are there new opportunities for movements to take advantage of to start its wind-down? Listen here to explore these questions with the help of our guest experts!
December ’21- Royal Dutch Shell Plc shareholders approved the relocation of the company’s headquarters to London from The Netherlands, a move that will help it to boost returns while transitioning to clean energy. A “resounding” 99.8% of votes cast by investors were in favor of the proposal, Shell Chairman Andrew Mackenzie said in a statement on Friday. Shell’s board still needs to hold a meeting to give final approval to the decision. The company expects the process to be completed in early 2022. The company is seeking to convince investors, governments and environmental groups that it can transform itself into a company fit for a net-zero carbon world. Key to that plan, the company says, is adopting a single line of shares in one country that will make it easier to buy and sell assets as well as return cash to shareholders.
Today, we are proud to launch the Future Beyond Shell podcast series! Shell has long been impeding any hope of a Just Transition from the fossil fuel age, making an end to Shell necessary, overdue and inevitable. But what are the pathways to a Future Beyond Shell? If we are serious about putting a stop to the polluting, extractive, colonial oil major, we need to take a good look at the options. Bankrupting, carbon pricing, suing, nationalising: what can we achieve with these strategies? Listen here to the podcast series to explore how multinationals like Shell could, and eventually will, meet their end.
Shell has consistently supported carbon emissions trading and, in certain areas of the world, carbon taxes. Beyond carbon capture and nature-based solutions, it promotes reliance on carbon markets as a core climate action strategy that is in line with their business goals. But how successful have these neoliberal tools really been in moving us towards an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist future? Can some of their inefficiencies be resolved by tweaking market rules or is the idea of carbon pricing simply doomed to fail based on an inherently flawed logic?
In this episode, we will explore lessons from past bankruptcies in the fossil fuel sector, and what they might mean for Shell. While most people agree that Shell is not currently close to filing bankruptcy, bold climate policy and emissions targets set by governments might bring Shell closer to the edge. This is how we arrive at the question, would letting Shell go bankrupt be a reasonable strategy? Could letting big polluters go bankrupt finally facilitate a Just Transition away from fossil fuels? Or will they simply leave workers and impacted communities to fend for themselves in the midst of abandoned fossil infrastructure?
How can energy be owned, managed, and produced in a way that is just, clean and affordable? Principles to root ourselves in and pioneering examples from around the world pave the way towards a Future Beyond Shell and the injustice it represents. See the Table of Contents below, and download the full primer!
Big Oil is under fire. So oil companies use their money to influence public opinion and the political climate. They use advertising and marketing to do this, also aimed at young children. Shell’s Generation Discover children’s festival shows how the oil multinational uses advertising to protect its fossil fuels revenue model from climate policy.
We have received the following obituary about Shell’s demise, from an author reaching us from the future. Reluctant to disrupt the arc of history bending towards justice, we are publishing it unredacted.
Shell has set new carbon emissions goals to become a net zero carbon energy company by 2050, but will continue to grow its gas business by more than 20% in the next few years.
Shell says it wants to be CO2 neutral by 2050, but that does not mean that the group is fully committed to cleaner energy sources and fuels in the coming years. From an investment budget of around USD 20 billion, by far the most goes to fossil activities such as oil, chemicals and gas.
This second episode in our two-part series on Putin’s war on Ukraine and oil and gas tackles three big issues. First, it looks at the relationship between revenues from fossil fuel exports and Russia’s attack on Ukraine; second, the challenges and pay-offs of divestment from and embargoes of Russian oil and gas, and third, what possibilities for a future beyond fossil fuels the situation opens up. How might we set up an energy system that allows us to condemn war and incursions on sovereignty and promotes peace?
December ’21 – Shell will be forced to halt oil exploration in vital whale breeding grounds along South Africa’s eastern coastline after a local court blocked the controversial project. The court order calls for an immediate halt to Shell’s seismic tests which involve blasting sound waves through the relatively untouched Wild Coast marine environment, which is home to whales, dolphins and seals. The community campaigners behind the legal challenge welcomed the court’s decision as a victory for “voiceless” indigenous groups living near the coast which hold customary rights to undertake small-scale fishing in the area, as well as a cultural and spiritual connection to the ocean.
Shell has pulled out of a controversial new oilfield off the Shetland Islands, plunging the future of oil exploration in the area into doubt. Shell, which was planning to exploit the field along with the private equity-backed fossil fuel explorer Siccar Point, cited a weak economic case as its reason for deciding not to go ahead with the project.
In this episode, we will continue our conversation on the role of strategic litigation as a tactic to counter the power of fossil fuel companies at large, and Shell in particular. How effective is litigation in actually holding fossil fuel companies accountable, in terms of historical environmental injustices like pollution in Ogoniland in Nigeria, and in terms of shifting power to oppressed, often racialized communities? Are court cases generally ‘too little, too late,’ or do they have genuinely transformative power? Are they a key tool to move towards a Future Beyond Shell?
In this final episode, we consider recent proposals to take the fossil fuel industry into the public ownership: specifically, into the ownership of a national government. In Shell’s case, as a British and Dutch-owned company, we will explore where such a nationalization might take place, and a few of the mechanisms, as well as various implications of public ownership. Would a nationalization mitigate global warming to 1.5C, as outlined in the Paris Agreement? How can we ensure we actually wind Shell down once we take it into public ownership? How might nationalization support fossil fuel workers in a transition?
Get ready for the 9th of November when we will launch the Future Beyond Shell podcast! Shell has long been impeding any hope of a Just Transition from the fossil fuel age, making an end to Shell necessary, overdue and inevitable. But what are the pathways to a Future Beyond Shell? If we are serious about putting a stop to the polluting, extractive, colonial oil major, we need to take a good look at the options. Bankrupting, carbon pricing, suing, nationalising: what can we achieve with these strategies? Sign up for the podcast series to explore how multinationals like Shell could, and eventually will, meet their end.
The analysis of Shell’s financialisation reveals how they have maximised profit at any expense. Creative tax structures, dividend and share gymnastics, strategic debt and asset accumulation; read how Shell became the archetype neoliberal multinational.
Oil interests are deeply entrenched in colonial history, and benefit from the colonial dynamics that persist today. The following article unpacks Indonesia’s history of oil, colonialism and local resistance, not only revealing Shell’s complicity, but also its direct interests in colonial violence.
Shell is starting one of the biggest reorganizations in its history as it pivots from a century-long structure that prioritized oil and gas production to a greener future. There will be as many as 9,000 job losses over the next two years, with cuts already announced in the Netherlands, the U.K. and Malaysia. Shell’s traders, however, will receive bonuses as it’s not tied to payout budgets associated with the company’s performance, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public.
Shell reported adjusted earnings of $4.85 billion for the full-year 2020. That compared with a profit of $16.5 billion for the full-year 2019. The company said it would raise its first-quarter dividend to $0.1735 per share, reflecting an increase of 4% from the previous quarter.
Oil and gas giant says pandemic has fuelled weakest results for two decades
More than 140 spatial designers and climate justice organisers came together to imagine how Royal Dutch Shell infrastructure will be decommissioned and repurposed in the coming decades. Their work is now published in the form of a speculative Just Transition design calendar. Download the calendar PDF Learn more about the project
In this episode and the next few, we are taking a slightly different approach. We want to take stock of a few major events in recent months, how they have affected Shell and the larger oil and gas sector, and what this means for strategies to dismantle Shell.
This second episode in our two-part series on Putin’s war on Ukraine and oil and gas tackles three big issues. First, it looks at the relationship between revenues from fossil fuel exports and Russia’s attack on Ukraine; second, the challenges and pay-offs of divestment from and embargoes of Russian oil and gas, and third, what possibilities for a future beyond fossil fuels the situation opens up. How might we set up an energy system that allows us to condemn war and incursions on sovereignty and promotes peace?
In this first episode of a two-part series on Putin’s war on Ukraine and oil and gas, we focus on Shell’s business prospects and what room there is to wind Shell down. First, we ask, what does Shell’s and other fossil fuel companies’ exit from Russia mean for Shell economically and for the future of its business? Second, can such an exit somehow contribute towards a just energy transition?
The fossil fuel world has been through major transformation in the past 6 months. In February 2022, Russia renewed her invasion of Ukraine, sending much of the world into a search for alternative sources of oil and gas as well as contributing to soaring fuel prices. Just a month earlier, in January 2022, Shell announced that she was moving her fiscal headquarters to the UK, after spending over a century in the Netherlands. How do these recent events affect the fossil fuel industry? Is a company like Shell stronger than ever, or are there new opportunities for movements to take advantage of to start its wind-down? Listen here to explore these questions with the help of our guest experts!
December ’21 – Shell will be forced to halt oil exploration in vital whale breeding grounds along South Africa’s eastern coastline after a local court blocked the controversial project. The court order calls for an immediate halt to Shell’s seismic tests which involve blasting sound waves through the relatively untouched Wild Coast marine environment, which is home to whales, dolphins and seals. The community campaigners behind the legal challenge welcomed the court’s decision as a victory for “voiceless” indigenous groups living near the coast which hold customary rights to undertake small-scale fishing in the area, as well as a cultural and spiritual connection to the ocean.
January ’22 – Shell officially changed its name on Friday, ditching “Royal Dutch”, which has been part of its identity since 1907, following plans to scrap its dual share structure and move its head office from the Netherlands to Britain. “Shell announced the Board’s decision to change its name to Shell plc on December 20, 2021. This change has now taken effect,” Shell said in a filing. The change will not affect share ownership and the A shares and B shares will remain unchanged for the time being, Shell said.
December ’21- Royal Dutch Shell Plc shareholders approved the relocation of the company’s headquarters to London from The Netherlands, a move that will help it to boost returns while transitioning to clean energy. A “resounding” 99.8% of votes cast by investors were in favor of the proposal, Shell Chairman Andrew Mackenzie said in a statement on Friday. Shell’s board still needs to hold a meeting to give final approval to the decision. The company expects the process to be completed in early 2022. The company is seeking to convince investors, governments and environmental groups that it can transform itself into a company fit for a net-zero carbon world. Key to that plan, the company says, is adopting a single line of shares in one country that will make it easier to buy and sell assets as well as return cash to shareholders.
Shell has pulled out of a controversial new oilfield off the Shetland Islands, plunging the future of oil exploration in the area into doubt. Shell, which was planning to exploit the field along with the private equity-backed fossil fuel explorer Siccar Point, cited a weak economic case as its reason for deciding not to go ahead with the project.
January ’22- At least five Nigerian oil and gas companies are preparing to submit bids this month for Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) onshore oilfields in a sale that could fetch up to $3 billion, three sources involved in the process told Reuters. Shell started talks with the Nigerian government last year about selling its stake in the West African country’s onshore fields, where it has been active since the 1930s, as part of a global drive to reduce its carbon emissions. The Anglo-Dutch company has stakes in 19 oil mining leases in Nigeria’s onshore oil and gas joint venture (SPDC), which the industry and banking sources said were valued at $2 billion to $3 billion.
Today, we are proud to launch the Future Beyond Shell podcast series! Shell has long been impeding any hope of a Just Transition from the fossil fuel age, making an end to Shell necessary, overdue and inevitable. But what are the pathways to a Future Beyond Shell? If we are serious about putting a stop to the polluting, extractive, colonial oil major, we need to take a good look at the options. Bankrupting, carbon pricing, suing, nationalising: what can we achieve with these strategies? Listen here to the podcast series to explore how multinationals like Shell could, and eventually will, meet their end.
In this episode, we will continue our conversation on the role of strategic litigation as a tactic to counter the power of fossil fuel companies at large, and Shell in particular. How effective is litigation in actually holding fossil fuel companies accountable, in terms of historical environmental injustices like pollution in Ogoniland in Nigeria, and in terms of shifting power to oppressed, often racialized communities? Are court cases generally ‘too little, too late,’ or do they have genuinely transformative power? Are they a key tool to move towards a Future Beyond Shell?
In this episode, we will discuss the role of court cases and strategic litigation as tactics to counter the power of fossil fuel companies at large, and Shell in particular. How effective is litigation in actually holding fossil fuel companies accountable and preventing disastrous climate breakdown? Can they account for the international nature of Shell and its contributions to global emissions? Are court cases a key tool to move towards a Future Beyond Shell?
Shell has consistently supported carbon emissions trading and, in certain areas of the world, carbon taxes. Beyond carbon capture and nature-based solutions, it promotes reliance on carbon markets as a core climate action strategy that is in line with their business goals. But how successful have these neoliberal tools really been in moving us towards an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist future? Can some of their inefficiencies be resolved by tweaking market rules or is the idea of carbon pricing simply doomed to fail based on an inherently flawed logic?
In this final episode, we consider recent proposals to take the fossil fuel industry into the public ownership: specifically, into the ownership of a national government. In Shell’s case, as a British and Dutch-owned company, we will explore where such a nationalization might take place, and a few of the mechanisms, as well as various implications of public ownership. Would a nationalization mitigate global warming to 1.5C, as outlined in the Paris Agreement? How can we ensure we actually wind Shell down once we take it into public ownership? How might nationalization support fossil fuel workers in a transition?
In order to identify and assess the tools it may take to dismantle a corporation like Shell, we first need a good understanding of how the company operates in the context of the global political economy. What tactics have helped Shell to become the powerful oil and gas major it is today and which ones is it likely to pursue in future? Looking at the oil and gas sector at large we see that Europe’s listed oil companies lost a total of €360bn in market value and Shell has nursed an incredible 60% decline in market value in 2020. How has this changed in 2021? Is this the metric by which Shell and the larger fossil fuel sector measure their performance? What do the coming years hold for Shell, and how does this inform the tactics we use to unravel their power?
In this episode, we will explore lessons from past bankruptcies in the fossil fuel sector, and what they might mean for Shell. While most people agree that Shell is not currently close to filing bankruptcy, bold climate policy and emissions targets set by governments might bring Shell closer to the edge. This is how we arrive at the question, would letting Shell go bankrupt be a reasonable strategy? Could letting big polluters go bankrupt finally facilitate a Just Transition away from fossil fuels? Or will they simply leave workers and impacted communities to fend for themselves in the midst of abandoned fossil infrastructure?
Get ready for the 9th of November when we will launch the Future Beyond Shell podcast! Shell has long been impeding any hope of a Just Transition from the fossil fuel age, making an end to Shell necessary, overdue and inevitable. But what are the pathways to a Future Beyond Shell? If we are serious about putting a stop to the polluting, extractive, colonial oil major, we need to take a good look at the options. Bankrupting, carbon pricing, suing, nationalising: what can we achieve with these strategies? Sign up for the podcast series to explore how multinationals like Shell could, and eventually will, meet their end.
Can a company that puts profit before people possibly have the moral compass to navigate a just and fair energy transition? Read the Executive Summary below, and download the full report!
How can energy be owned, managed, and produced in a way that is just, clean and affordable? Principles to root ourselves in and pioneering examples from around the world pave the way towards a Future Beyond Shell and the injustice it represents. See the Table of Contents below, and download the full primer!
The analysis of Shell’s financialisation reveals how they have maximised profit at any expense. Creative tax structures, dividend and share gymnastics, strategic debt and asset accumulation; read how Shell became the archetype neoliberal multinational.
Learn more about the Energy Charter Treaty and other trade agreements: the insidious tools in Shell’s arsenal with which governments can be sued for climate action, and that can potentially shift Shell’s financial burden onto the shoulders of taxpayers.
Big Oil is under fire. So oil companies use their money to influence public opinion and the political climate. They use advertising and marketing to do this, also aimed at young children. Shell’s Generation Discover children’s festival shows how the oil multinational uses advertising to protect its fossil fuels revenue model from climate policy.
Oil interests are deeply entrenched in colonial history, and benefit from the colonial dynamics that persist today. The following article unpacks Indonesia’s history of oil, colonialism and local resistance, not only revealing Shell’s complicity, but also its direct interests in colonial violence.
What does it mean to talk about genuine, transformative, systemic, or redistributive change?
We have received the following obituary about Shell’s demise, from an author reaching us from the future. Reluctant to disrupt the arc of history bending towards justice, we are publishing it unredacted.
Shell is starting one of the biggest reorganizations in its history as it pivots from a century-long structure that prioritized oil and gas production to a greener future. There will be as many as 9,000 job losses over the next two years, with cuts already announced in the Netherlands, the U.K. and Malaysia. Shell’s traders, however, will receive bonuses as it’s not tied to payout budgets associated with the company’s performance, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public.
The case brought by the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, links the oil major’s stance on climate change with human rights. The ruling will also have implications for Shell’s European peers as pressure mounts on polluting energy companies to step up the fight against global warming.
Shell has set new carbon emissions goals to become a net zero carbon energy company by 2050, but will continue to grow its gas business by more than 20% in the next few years.
Shell reported adjusted earnings of $4.85 billion for the full-year 2020. That compared with a profit of $16.5 billion for the full-year 2019. The company said it would raise its first-quarter dividend to $0.1735 per share, reflecting an increase of 4% from the previous quarter.
Nigerian farmers win claim for compensation in The Hague after 13-year battle
Shell says it wants to be CO2 neutral by 2050, but that does not mean that the group is fully committed to cleaner energy sources and fuels in the coming years. From an investment budget of around USD 20 billion, by far the most goes to fossil activities such as oil, chemicals and gas.
Oil and gas giant says pandemic has fuelled weakest results for two decades