MAn environmental campaign group has filed what it claimed as a “groundbreaking greenwashing complaint” with the US financial watchdog alleging oil giant Shell is misleading investors over its renewable energy investments, said Upstreamonline.
Global Witness asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the make-up of the supermajor’s Renewables and Energy Solutions reporting segment, which includes Shell’s various energy transition activities such as investments in wind and solar.
The campaign group says in a letter to the SEC: “Despite its title, a significant portion of Shell’s spending on Renewables and Energy Solutions appears to be directed towards the marketing and trading of ‘natural’ gas – a fossil fuel – and gas-generated power.
“Given that gas is neither renewable nor an energy solution, we ask the Commission, first, to investigate whether the activities included in the RES segment have been properly reported pursuant to relevant accounting standards.”
Global Witness goes on to cite its own calculations that Shell in its most recent annual reporting period “spent just 1.5% total capex on developing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar”. It alleges that flies in the face of a 12% capex share claimed by Shell in 2021.
In light of that it wants the SEC to also probe “whether including gas in RES without reporting how much spending Shell directs to gas has caused Shell to omit material facts necessary to its investors’ clear understanding of Shell’s purported energy transition.
We remind, Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC announced it has commenced operations of its Pennsylvania Chemical project, Shell Polymers Monaca (SPM). The Pennsylvania facility is the first major polyethylene manufacturing complex in the Northeastern United States and has a designed output of 1.6 MMt annually.
mrchub.com