Shell publishes landmark climate report

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has published a landmark report analysing the measures required for international climate targets to be met.

The Dutch company has previously argued that growing global demand for energy would take priority over international agreements to curb carbon emissions and prevent dangerous levels of global warming.

Shell has faced pressure from shareholders with environmental concerns and the firm has now outlined an “optimistic” scenario for preventing dangerous climate change.

In the reports foreword, the company’s CEO Ben van Beurden (pictured), wrote: “We know our long-term success as a company depends on our ability to anticipate the types of energy that people will need in the future in a way that is both commercially competitive and environmentally sound.”

The report cities a range of leading scientific studies and says that global greenhouse gas emissions will need to peak in 2020 and reach ‘net zero’ by 2070 to prevent global average temperatures from increasing  above 2°C compared to pre-industrial times.

The more ambitious target of 1.5°C included in December’s international Paris Agreement on climate action depends on GHGs being phased out by 2050.

Shell’s study emphasises the importance of carbon capture and storage and also calls for a global carbon price to be introduced.