Shell has come under renewed pressure to help cut carbon emissions associated with oil and gas use amid signs that investors are taking their role in the net zero drive increasingly seriously.

Prominent investors have supported a call by environmental campaigners at Follow This for an update of Shell’s emissions reduction strategy, which they reckon is required to align it with the Paris climate agreement.

The move reflects the growing importance of environmental social and governance factors in the strategies followed by investment groups. It also highlights controversy about how best to measure the success of efforts to reduce global emissions.

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Follow This noted that 27 ‘major’ investors have joined it in submitting a resolution calling for Shell to adopt what one described as credible targets for emissions reduction under the Scope 3 heading. The investors concerned include Scottish Widows.

Describing the move as extraordinary, Follow This founder Mark van Baal claimed: “[It] puts the call for emissions reductions by energy companies front and center for all institutional investors.”

He added: “Large shareholders hold the key to tackling the climate crisis with their votes at shareholders’ meetings. Shell will only change if more shareholders vote for change.”

However, Shell hammered home its belief that it has developed policies that are in line with the more ambitious target set at the Paris climate summit in 2015, to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade.

The disagreement centres on the role of Scope 3 targets, which cover emissions associated with the use of oil and gas and related products by consumers and corporations.

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It is understood that Shell bosses believe that Scope 3 emissions targets provide an unreliable measure of oil and gas firms’ progress. This is because the scale of emissions concerned will depend on the choices made by companies and consumers, which oil and gas firms do not control. For consumers these include whether to eat meat or drive electric vehicles,

Shell reckons a more suitable measure to track is the average carbon intensity of the energy products it sells. This will fall if the share of lower carbon products in the group’s total sales increases.

The company reckons it has made good progress on this measure.

Shell has a big North Sea oil and gas production operation.

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The support for the Follow This resolution suggests a range of institutions disagree about the Scope 3 issue.

The 27 supporters include Amundi, which Follow This described as Europe’s largest investor. It said the investors control around five per cent of Shell’s shares.

Follow This has submitted similar resolutions at Shell’s general meetings in recent years. The one last year was supported by 20 per cent of votes cast.

A spokesperson for Shell noted: “In early 2024, we will publish our first Energy Transition Strategy update, on which there will be an advisory vote at our 2024 AGM.”