Campaigners slam Shell’s shareholder dividends as it reports £22.4bn profits

Campaigners have slammed Shell for upping shareholder dividends as the firm announced a £22.4 billion profit for 2023.

Despite a fall in profits since the height of the energy crisis in 2022 when the firm made a record £31 billion ($40 billion), the figures for this year were better than expected.

The Guardian reported that the firm plans to return £2.8 billion ($3.5 billion) to investors.

The NGO Greenpeace has parodied the fossil fuel company in a scathing video which shows board members celebrating the figures, which were announced by the fossil fuel company yesterday, by necking down champagne and dancing around a burning sign which reads “Your Future”.

In a nod to a similar scene in hit show Succession, written by Greenpeace supporter Jesse Armstrong, one executive is seen rapping while wearing a baseball jersey.

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In an earlier Succession themed video, the NGO also ridiculed the multimillion dollar lawsuit it faced from Shell, with a video which featured scenes from the show where Cousin Greg attempts to sue Greenpeace for his inheritance.

Just days later, Armstrong donated £25,000 to Greenpeace’s legal defence fund.


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Shell CEO Wael Sawan came under fire last year after the fossil fuel company dropped its plans to cut oil production. Advertising agency Havas has also been criticised for taking on the contract for the firm.

In a high profile move last year, the Church of England divested from Shell for the first time after many years last year.

The fossil fuel company was among 17 firms awarded fresh North Sea oil and gas licences by the government’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).

Greenpeace UK campaigner Maja Darlington said: “This is the kind of party nobody wants to be at. 2023 smashed global temperature records, but Shell execs are celebrating another year of making obscene profits from climate-wrecking fossil fuels.”

“While Shell shovels billions to shareholders and drills for yet more oil and gas, climate disasters are multiplying and hitting hardest those who have done the least to cause the crisis.”

“It’s time to end the fossil fuel party. It would take the average British worker over 640,000 years to earn as much as Shell did last year. Our government must make oil companies like Shell stop drilling and start using their immense wealth to pay for the damage they are causing, before all our futures go up in flames”.

Feature image credit: Greenpeace

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