Shell and biodiversity

We consider biodiversity early in new projects, develop biodiversity action plans, and collaborate with biodiversity experts to help protect areas with rich and delicate eco-systems.

The growing human population using more resources is leading to an unprecedented decline in animal and plant species –  for example, more than 17,000 plants and species were officially listed as endangered in 2008 compared to around 11,000 in 2000. Twenty percent of tropical forests and 50% of global wetlands have been destroyed in the past 50 years.

Governments urgently need to find the right balance between development and nature conservation, according to the 2005 Millennium Eco-system Assessment. The spread of housing and farming is the biggest problem, but producing energy plays a role – from searching for oil and gas in sensitive areas to the extra land needed for energy infrastructure and increasingly for energy crops for biofuels.

Helping to protect biodiversity makes business sense for Shell. We must meet legal and regulatory requirements. But it also reduces our operational and financial risk by ensuring we get our projects right. It helps to build trust with regulators and third parties so our projects can win approval and acceptance, it can make us the first choice for business partners, and can attract and motivate staff.

Assessing biodiversity is part of the impact assessments we perform for any new major project or large expansions to existing operations. This can influence decisions and project design.

If an area is rich in biodiversity we engage with the local communities and experts and develop biodiversity action plans. These plans help us to set targets, define specific actions and monitor progress to ensure our biodiversity objectives are met.