Campaigners bring Shell's first UK AGM to a standstill

After the Shell AGM action campaigners joined Operation Noah for prayers outside CoE offices

Source: Christian Climate Action

Christian Climate Action and other climate groups brought Shell's first UK AGM to a standstill yesterday.

Three women from Christian Climate Action sang an adapted version of Amazing Grace, read a message to Shell employees and prayed for the Shell board as part of a mass action to disrupt Shell's first UK AGM, held at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.
At 10am on Tuesday 24 May, more than 80 people took turns to interrupt the Chairman's speech, with the aim of stopping the meeting and delivering a message to Shell.

Other protestors from the UK, Netherlands and Nigeria read out testimonies accusing Shell of human rights abuses, ecocide, fueling climate breakdown and funding misinformation.

On the day before the AGM, Christian Climate Action organised a 24 hour prayer vigil outside Methodist Central Hall in Westminster before taking part in a climate justice rally coordinated by the coalition Defund Climate Chaos.

Shareholders and Shell employees arriving at the meeting were greeted by speeches from Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, and representatives from groups including Friends of the Earth and Fuel Poverty Action. Funeral wreaths spelling out the words "Remember, Rise, Resist" were laid to honour the lives worldwide that have been impacted and lost through decades of Shell's polluting.

The action followed the news yesterday that Caroline Dennett, former safety consultant for Shell, has terminated her relationship with the multinational. In a resignation video which was sent to over a thousand of her former colleagues at Shell, Dennett said the fossil fuel giant has a "disregard for climate change risks" and that she "can no longer be a part of it."

Addressing Shell employees directly she said: "The fossil fuel industry is the past. If you can find a way out, please walk away while there's still time."

Shell plans to grow its fossil gas business by 20% in the coming years, including seeking approval from the UK Government for 'Jackdaw', a new gas field in the North Sea. The emssisons from Jackdaw would be equivalent the annual emissions of Ghana. This is despite warnings from the UN Secretary General that embarking on new fossil fuel projects is 'moral and economic madness'.

Last year, the International Energy Agency warned that no new coal, oil or gas projects can be developed in order to limit warming to 1.5°C, and last week a report showed that nearly 40% of reserves in already developed fossil fuel sites need to stay in the ground.

Amidst the cost of living and energy crises, in which 1.3 million Britons could be pushed into poverty, Shell made record quarterly profits of $9bn. The company paid no tax on its UK oil and gas production in 2021, and last week, Tory MPs voted down a proposed windfall tax on oil and gas giants.

During the AGM, Valerie King read the following message to employees of Shell: "Shell, like all other fossil fuel businesses have known for over 30 years that increasing CO2 levels on our amazing planet will result in the irreversible damage of all living forms, including humans. Millions of people in every part of the world are already affected, many are dying. So I appeal to all employees of Shell, particularly those in decision-making positions; stop kidding yourselves that you are doing no harm. Think of your children and family members now and in the future who will not escape the affects of the climate emergency. Think! Every decision you take affects them. That's why your determination to continue to extract new oil and gas affects you personally. The promises and commitments you make to keep the global temperature to below 1.5 degrees, are not only empty, but dangerous, because they reassure those who know no better. Most of the public do not know, for example that 90% of your capital continues to go into fossil fuel expansion. As a Christian I believe it is my duty to stand up to injustice; the decisions you are making are resulting in the greatest injustice of all - an inhabitable planet and the destruction of our world as we know it. I call on you as citizens of this planet, open your eyes to the harm you are doing to yourselves and to future generations and stop all new oil and gas extraction."

Kate Chesterman who took part in the action inside the AGM said: "Shell have known about the impact of their business on our world, and some of its most vulnerable communities, for decades. Their deliberate greenwashing and the damage they have wrought in pursuit of profit seems unconscionable. At the heart of Christianity is grace: the undeserved opportunity to wipe the slate clean which all of us need repeatedly in our lives. I have sung "Amazing Grace" in Shell's AGM and that is my prayer for them: that grace will open them to the possibility of making better choices and use their technology, power and influence for good, not destruction. Sadly, as long as they refuse to do that, all I can do in response is peacefully resist them as much as I can."

Caroline Harmon who took part in the action inside the AGM said: "I'm here to take a stand for God's creation and for my family. We are called to care for creation and extracting fossil fuels is not caring. I want my family to have a planet they can safely live on, one that isn't threatened by the consequences of climate change."

Melanie Nazareth who spoke at the rally outside the AGM said: "Shell is continuing to cause harm and suffering and must be stopped. The people of the Ikarama community in Nigeria, tell us how Shell oil spills going as far back as 2006 have not been properly cleaned up. Oil was left to percolate into the soil, and remains there to today impacting food, farming and health. Shell has unveiled plans to plough millions in new fossil fuel investment including re-applying to develop the Jackdaw oil field in the UK. This ignores warnings from scientists that there must be no new fossil fuel projects - not here, not anywhere. The most vulnerable across the world are are already suffering the dreadful effects of the climate crisis and my faith tells me that I must speak up against this injustice."

LINKS

Caroline Dennett's resignation message - www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHbPNGz0x4U

Christian Climate Action - https://christianclimateaction.org/