Shell recommends shareholders reject climate activist resolution

LONDON (Reuters) - Shell recommended on Wednesday its shareholders vote against a climate activist resolution asking for more stringent emissions cuts by 2030 at its May 23 general meeting.

Activist group Follow This said in December it had co-filed resolutions with six major institutional investors managing $1.3 trillion in assets ahead of the annual general meetings of BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell.

Follow This wants the companies to commit to absolute emissions cuts by 2030, rather than intensity-based targets, in line with the Paris climate deal, including emissions from the combustion of the fuels they sell, known as Scope 3 emissions.

Scientists say the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, to have any hope of meeting Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Shell has ruled out setting such absolute emissions cut targets.

In an investor presentation, Shell called the Follow This resolution "not in the best interest of shareholders", "not supporting the climate" and said it was against good governance.

This echoes BP's recommendation.

At the 2022 shareholder meeting, Follow This received 20%support, down from 30% the previous year.

Graphic: Shell's emissions https://www.reuters.com/graphics/SHELL-EMISSIONS/gkplwlezbvb/chart.png

(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; editing by Barbara Lewis)