Due Diligence
The need to ensure carbon credit quality is an industry wide challenge. Watch the video to see how we’re addressing it.
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
Title: Shell Environmental Products – Due Diligence Video
Duration: 4 minutes 4 seconds
Description: This video provides an overview of Shell Environmental Products’ approach to due diligence in the voluntary carbon market. It describes Shell’s process for evaluating carbon credit projects - from certification and assessment to external auditing and continuous improvement – with the aim that customers can buy with confidence.
Shell Environmental Products – Due Diligence Video Transcript
[Background music plays]
Calm, professional instrumental music with light percussion.
[Narration]
All business activities involve risk, and buying carbon credits is no exception.
[Visuals]
Aerial footage of a white high-speed train curving through green countryside; overhead shots of shipping containers at a busy port; and a modern city skyline at sunset with highways leading toward the horizon.
[Text displays]
Considering carbon credits?
[Narration]
But ignoring carbon credits can also bring risks when investors and consumers expect businesses to be taking action to reduce their carbon footprint.
[Visuals]
Scenes of office buildings lit at night, business professionals shaking hands outdoors, a busy city street crossing, and a large logistics yard with trucks and loading bays.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
Carbon credits can help compensate for residual emissions as you also work to reduce and avoid them.
[Visuals]
Upward view of glass skyscrapers; aerial view of a large airport with white CO₂ icons overlayed, labelled Avoid, Reduce, and Compensate.
[Text displays]
Avoid Reduce Compensate
[Narration]
So what’s needed is thorough due diligence to help give you confidence in the credits you buy.
[Visuals]
Close-up of a Shell RechargePlus electric vehicle charger; wind turbines rotating slowly; transition to white background with subtle Shell Pecten texture.
[Text displays]
Due diligence gives you confidence
[Narration]
At Shell, we’re helping make that more comfortable for customers.
[Visuals]
A collage of engineers reviewing data on tablets, airplanes taxiing, and energy facilities in operation. Smooth transitions connect scenes across industries.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
After all, Shell has a proven history of managing risk in tightly regulated industries, and we’re working to apply that experience in the voluntary carbon market.
[Visuals]
Montage of container ships, engineers at wind farms, refinery operations at sunset, and close-ups of industrial machinery.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
At Shell Environmental Products, we have developed our own standardised due diligence process to help our customers and us feel confident engaging with this growing market.
[Visuals]
Aerial view of green forested mountains. Text transitions from Shell Environmental Products to Our own due diligence, and then Your reputation → our reputation. The scene concludes with a river winding through the forest.
[Text displays]
Shell Environmental Products
Our own due diligence
Your reputation
our reputation
[Narration]
It’s necessarily a complex approach, but here’s an overview.
[Visuals]
A diverse business team sits around a white meeting table, reviewing reports and data, representing structure and collaboration.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
First, we only buy carbon credits that have been certified by global standard setting bodies.
[Visuals]
Aerial forest view in mist; text appears reading Certified by global standard setting bodies. Certification logos of Verra, VCS, CCB, Gold Standard, CAR, ACR, and CCER fade in over the same misty mountain background.
[Text displays]
Certified by global standard setting bodies
Verra VCS CCB Gold Standard CAR ACR CCER
[Narration]
This shows that the project meets the expected industry standards for factors such as auditing, oversight and methodology development and revision.
[Visuals]
Aerial forest panorama with animated yellow underline and floating keywords highlighting the validation dimensions.
[Text displays]
Auditing – Independent accreditation
Oversight
Methodology development
Revision
[Narration]
And next, we conduct our own enhanced assessment into the technical claims and processes of the projects.
[Visuals]
Misty forest landscape at sunrise; text overlay reading Enhanced technical due diligence. The tone is calm and precise, symbolising Shell’s technical expertise.
[Text displays]
Enhanced technical due diligence
[Narration]
We call on the team of 100 experts, including specialists in topics such as geomatics and biodiversity, along with the wider Shell network to assess projects for criteria such as additionality, permanence, and leakage.
[Visuals]
Engineers on-site, scientists working with digital tools, and natural imagery showing biodiversity. Icons appear one by one, representing the assessment criteria.
[Text displays]
Our team of 100 experts
Additionality
Permanence
Leakage
[Narration]
While the technical aspects of a project are important, our process goes further.
[Visuals]
Close-up of caliper measuring a young tree, tablet data capture in the field, and text overlay reading We go further over a golden-hour scene of an assessor in nature.
[Text displays]
We go further
[Narration]
We evaluate for non-technical factors including safeguarding, social impact, and wider environmental implications.
[Visuals]
Close-up of a dew-tipped leaf with overlay text Enhance wider due diligence and bullet points listing safeguarding, social impact, and environmental impact.
[Text displays]
Enhance wider due diligence
Safeguarding Social impact Environmental impact
[Narration]
After all, these factors not only impact the efficacy of the project on the ground—they can have huge implications for your reputation.
[Visuals]
A woman walking beside solar panels, aerial view of cultivated crop fields, and drone footage of cattle grazing in open pasture.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
Only when projects meet our standards will we accept them into our portfolio.
[Visuals]
Close-up of hands typing on a laptop with animated Shell yellow icons for governance and compliance.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
We also submit our processes for annual external auditing.
[Visuals]
Professional using a tablet outdoors, transitioning to an open office with text overlay.
[Text displays]
Annual external auditing
[Narration]
This provides independent assurance that the processes are being carried out as documented.
[Visuals]
Office scene continues with overlay reading Annual external auditing | Independent assurance. Professionals review data on a glass board with upward-trending lines.
[Text displays]
Annual external auditing | Independent assurance
[Narration]
Just as we expect projects to continually adapt, we also adapt our own processes and ways of measuring effectiveness.
[Visuals]
Close-up of seedlings in grow bags, hands planting a young tree, and aerial view of a bioenergy facility.
[Text displays]
Continuous improvement
[Narration]
By constantly appraising the latest research, we can continue to refine our processes, methodologies, calculations and expectations.
[Visuals]
Wide aerial view of a green field with text Continuous refinement, followed by a yellow circular diagram showing Shell’s review cycle: Enhanced technical due diligence → Independent accreditations → Annual external auditing → Enhanced wider due diligence → Continuous refinement.
[Text displays]
Continuous refinement
[Narration]
And by sharing our own research with partners across the industry, we can continue to help shape the market in positive ways.
[Visuals]
Diverse group of professionals in a bright meeting room, speaking and collaborating with confidence.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
All in all, our commitment to technical rigour and wider positive impact means it takes a lot for projects to meet our requirements.
[Visuals]
Hands catching running water, aerial view of river and farmland, and split-screen of tropical wildlife — a toucan and a monkey.
[Text displays]
No on-screen text appears.
[Narration]
But at Shell Environmental Products, we believe the industry and our customers should expect nothing less.
[Visuals]
Camera moves gently through a green forest path with overlay text.
[Text displays]
Expect nothing less
[Narration]
Whether a project generates carbon credits by conservation, reforestation, renewable energy, household devices, or any of the other methodologies in our portfolio, you know that it’s a project that lives up to our standards.
[Visuals]
Animated infographic showing coloured category icons over a wetland, followed by mangrove planting in sunlight and a worker walking through a field at sunset.
[Text displays]
Conservation Reforestation Grasslands Renewable energy Household devices Waste management Methane capture
[Narration]
That means even as the industry changes, in Shell Environmental Products, you’ll have a trusted partner to help keep you informed and help you to manage risks.
[Visuals]
Aerial vineyard at sunrise, wind turbines at sunset, and forest canopy with overlay text.
[Text displays]
Trusted partner
[No narration]
Soft instrumental music continues and fades out gradually.
[Visuals]
Shell Pecten logo animates in over a light ripple background.
[Text displays]
shell.com/environmentalproducts
© Shell International Limited 2025
[Visuals]
Legal disclaimer and forward-looking statements appear on a static background, maintaining brand consistency.
[Text displays]
Cautionary Note and Forward-Looking Statements text appears in full screen.
Quality due diligence in carbon credits
Whether a project generates carbon credits via conservation, afforestation, reforestation, renewable energy, alternate household devices or any other methodology – you know that if it’s included in our portfolio, it’s a project that meets our standards. As the industry continues to evolve, we continue to improve our due diligence process to help manage risk and reputation.
