Shell reported profits of $5.1 bn (£3.9 bn) in its Q2 2023 results, while shareholder transfers stood at $6.2 bn (£4.8 bn) exceeding profits in the past quarter. The oil and gas company also announced a new share buyback programme of £2.3 bn for the coming 3 months. Analysis from the think tank Common Wealth adds to the mounting evidence that despite its green rhetoric Shell is doubling down on fossil fuels as the climate crisis intensifies.  

Today’s new figures show Shell’s investment in “Renewable and Energy Solutions” pales relative to its investment in fossil fuels and what it pays out to its shareholders. In Q2, Common Wealth analyst Sophie Flinders found Shell spent 6 times as much on fossil fuels on investments in its “Renewable and Energy Solutions Division”. 

By Shell's own definition, this “Renewable” division also includes “the marketing and trading and optimalisation of power and pipeline gas”, as well as clean energy.  

The analysis also finds that Shell’s CEO has seen their pay rise between 2021 and 2022 by 53%, from £6.3 million to £9.7 million.  

Alongside Shell, Centrica, the company that owns British Gas, has today posted its results. For the first six months of 2023, the company posted historic profits of £2.1 bn (compared to £1.3 bn for the first half of 2022). British Gas itself has made a record profit of £969 million for the first six months of 2023.  

Investment in new fossil fuel projects go against the recommendations of key global organisations like the International Energy Agency, who argue any new oil and gas development would be incompatible with climate goals. However, domestic policy on this issue continues to lag, with commitments from the UK government to issue 100 new licenses. 

The surge in energy profits and shareholder payouts raises critical questions about the structure and role of the for-profit corporation, with the oil and gas sector failing to deliver a meaningful or effective transition to clean and secure energy.   

[.quote][.quote-text]Shell remains a cash machine for its shareholders at the expense of people and planet. But this is more than just a story of ‘greedy corporations’. It underscores there is a fatal tension between the shareholder-owned and profit maximising corporation, and the needs of the climate and society at large. The need to maximise returns for investors above other priorities hinders decarbonisation, and has left us dependent on volatile and expensive oil and gas — driving the twin crises of climate and the cost of living.[.quote-text][.quotee]Mathew Lawrence, Director at Common Wealth[.quotee][.quote]

[.quote][.quote-text]Shell’s payouts of $2.6 bn in dividends and $3.6 in share buybacks exceed even the company’s profits this quarter, and bringing the oil giant’s total shareholder payouts to over $150 bn since 2013. In 2022,their CEO made £9.7 million, up 53% from 2021. In short, there’s too much money to be made in fossil fuels to place the responsibility of decarbonising energy on oil giants like Shell. These windfall profits have not translated into higher investment in Shell’s renewables. Deadly heat waves in America, wildfires across the Mediterranean and floods in the Philippines and Pakistan show that the crisis is already upon us — and that oil giants need to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Shareholders are lining their pockets at the cost of a habitable climate. Clear, ambitious political interventions are needed to decarbonise energy and avert the worst of the climate crisis.[.quote-text][.quotee]Sophie Flinders, Data Analyst at Common Wealth[.quotee][.quote]