Oil company Shell saw its annual general meeting disrupted by climate protesters Tuesday, while its executives were escorted by security inside Britain's ExCeL London exhibition. Photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE
May 23 (UPI) -- Climate protesters disrupted Shell's annual general meeting on Tuesday, forcing the oil company's executives to be escorted by security inside Britain's ExCeL London exhibition.
Demonstrators were eventually removed from the building after failing in an attempt to storm the stage during the meeting, the start of which was also delayed by protesters chanting, "Go to hell, Shell, and don't you come back no more."
The London-based multinational oil and gas company passed a resolution during the meeting to move its carbon emission reduction goals to the year 2030. Protesters instead demanded the company immediately cease production of its fossil fuels.
Members of the activist investor firm Follow This, which owns shares in Shell, were also at the meeting. The group filed a resolution calling on the company to bring its climate targets in line with the Paris climate agreement.
"Shell's climate ambition does not yet go far enough," the group says on its website.
"According to this ambition, Shell will halve its carbon footprint by 2050. But a relative reduction of 50% (an absolute reduction of 30%, because energy demand will grow) is not nearly enough to achieve the goals of the Paris climate agreement."
The Follow This resolution failed by a vote of 79.8% to 20.2%, according to a preliminary count.
Shell is currently appealing a 2021 ruling in a Dutch court calling on it to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by the end of the decade.
The meeting was the first for Shell CEO Wael Sawan, who defended the company's commitment to curbing fossil fuel use and production.
Sawan and chair Andrew Mackenzie both pointed out that the company invested $4.3 billion in low-carbon energy, including biofuels, hydrogen, electric car charging, and renewable power last year.
The company released its latest earnings earlier this month, reporting a first-quarter profit of $9.6 billion with $4.9 billion of that coming from its natural gas segment.