Shell shareholders' meeting disrupted by protesters

Shell's annual general meeting (AGM) was delayed Tuesday morning after climate protesters disrupted the event with chanting, prompting the firm to call for police assistance.

The meeting had been due to start at 10:00 BST (09:00 GMT), but despite appeals for calm by Shell's chairman Andrew Mackenzie, dozens of protesters continued to chant slogans such as "Shell must fall". Mackenzie told the protesters that he was sending for security and the police as "it is clear that none of you is prepared to allow me to conduct the meeting".

By 11:15 BST, Mackenzie informed shareholders that some of the protesters had glued themselves to their seats, and removing them in order to continue "the democratic process" of the meeting would take a few hours.

Shell's shareholders are due to vote on two climate resolutions today, including one from activist investor group Follow This. The group's resolution — which calls for the company to set short-, medium- and long-term targets consistent with the Paris climate agreement that cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions — secured 30pc approval from Shell's investors at last year's AGM.

Shell's directors are recommending that shareholders reject the Follow This resolution this year as they deem it "not to be in the best interests of the company". They argue that the emissions targets proposed by Follow This are "unrealistic".

The directors note the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and IEA estimates that net absolute emissions must be reduced by 40pc by 2030 include actions that are required by "all parts of society" and that "it is unreasonable to require any single company to adopt 2030 targets that go further than even the most progressive pathways to net zero in the sector".

By Jon Mainwaring