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People and planet
The world’s growing population and rising prosperity will put pressure on global energy, water and food supplies in the coming decades. Climate change is expected to add to the stresses. We are preparing for future challenges facing our planet and its resources by taking action today. We work with others to make a positive contribution to the communities where we operate and aim to limit the environmental impact of our operations.
Energy-water-food
In Oman we use reed beds to help clean water from our operations
The world’s energy, water and food systems are strongly interconnected. In the coming decades growing demand will place these essential resources under more pressure. Climate change may also intensify stresses. Industries and other sectors will need to work together to address this complex relationship, called the energy-water-food nexus.
Shell has joined with academics, specialists from the energy, water and food industries, along with experts from governments and non-governmental organisations, to discuss how to help tackle this challenge. We continue, for instance, to use new approaches and advanced technologies aimed at reducing the amount of fresh water we need for our operations and boosting energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency
Learning to use energy more efficiently will help to conserve resources and reduce greenhouse gases for the future health of the planet. We continuously look for ways to make our operations and processes more energy efficient and limit our CO2 emissions. Since 2005, we have followed a multi-billion dollar programme to increase the energy efficiency of our existing operations. We design new projects from the start to use energy efficiently. We also offer our customers products and advice that help them to use less energy.
Access to energy
We invest in community programmes that allow us to use our expertise to bring long-term benefits to local communities, focusing on projects linked to road safety, local enterprise development, and securing safe and reliable access to energy for local communities.
To help improve access to modern energy among low-income households, we helped found the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private partnership that aims to help 100 million homes worldwide adopt clean cooking solutions by 2020.
