The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), in partnership with other CSOs and faith-based organizations, has called on Shell Petroleum Development Company to stop emitting greenhouse gases and stop extracting oil and gas in Nigeria.
David Ugolor, ANEEJ’s convener, said the group met to review Shell’s energy transition strategy, which was submitted to shareholders for an advisory vote during the company’s annual general meeting.
The coalition reviewed the impact of Shell’s operations in Nigeria, notably in the Niger Delta region, as well as the role of the Church of England and other shareholders in furthering Shell’s operations in Nigeria and elsewhere, he said.
The group, which held a rally in front of Shell’s Lagos headquarters, asked that Shell limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and develop a just energy transition strategy.
“We reject carbon emissions, global warming, fossil fuel expansion, environmental degradation, job losses, and gas flaring.” They chanted, “We demand that the Church of England and other investors remove their moral support for Shell.”
They urged investors to immediately launch a fact-finding trip in conjunction with civil society groups to learn the truth about Shell’s operations in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.
Shell’s operations, according to Ugolor, have become a nightmare for the people of the Niger Delta, as pollution from spills and gas flaring has completely degraded the environment, destroyed a source of income, and inflicted tremendous misery and hardship on the people.
Shell Nigeria, through Bamidele Odugbesan, its Media Relations Manager, stated the company is working to reduce emissions from existing oil and gas operations.
“By 2050, Shell wants to be a net-zero-emissions energy company. “We are already taking actions to reduce emissions from our present oil and gas operations and to prevent generating further emissions in the future,” he said.
“Shell’s climate and energy transition strategy falls short of what is required to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the increase in the average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,” said Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, co-chair of the Indigenous Centre for Energy and Sustainable Development, ICE-SD.
“Shell’s emission reduction targets are intensity-based rather than absolute, and the corporation aims to continue investing billions of dollars in upstream oil and gas despite the need to wind down oil and gas production.” It intends to dramatically boost its gas output, with the goal of accounting for more than half of its operations by 2030.”
Taiwo Otitolaye, co-chair of the Nigerian Publish What You Pay Campaign, claimed Shell had harmed the environment and pushed people into poverty for nearly four decades. He went on to say that the oil firm needed to start cleaning up the environment and restoring people’s livelihoods.
