Shell’s global climate and energy transition policy positions
Our global climate and energy transition policy positions set out the key policies we believe are needed to help provide secure energy supplies, drive changes in consumer behaviour, and increase investment in low-carbon energy solutions.
Shell’s advocacy to governments is an important part of our strategy to deliver more value with less emissions. We support government policies that help society to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement and net-zero emissions by 2050.
Shell advocates robust policy, legislation and regulation in areas where we can best reduce our own emissions, support the decarbonisation of our customers and help accelerate the energy transition. Our climate and energy transition positions cover overarching net-zero emissions policies such as carbon pricing, and specific policy areas relating to the supply of secure energy, changing energy demand in the transport and industry sectors, and growing low-carbon solutions such as biofuels, renewable power, carbon capture and storage and hydrogen.
Our policy positions serve as a global framework for Shell’s advocacy with governments, international organisations, industry associations, coalitions, and other stakeholders globally, regionally and within countries. The positions are an important part of our drive to provide greater transparency around our climate advocacy, and to meet expectations of institutional investors, non-governmental organisations and wider society. In applying the positions, we recognise that the pace of the energy transition varies around the world. Our advocacy updates page provides detailed information about the advocacy we undertake against each of the positions.
Our positions focus on the key policy enablers in the sectors where we are most active and have competitive strengths. In addition to these positions, Shell has set out its approach and priorities on other critical issues such as just energy transition, the environment, and human rights.
Explore our policy positions
Achieving net-zero emissions
Supplying the secure energy the world needs
Driving changes in demand
Growing low carbon solutions
Achieving net-zero emissions
Most of our climate and energy transition policy positions call for policies and interventions related to the sectors in which we operate, in particular the production of oil and gas, and the supply and demand of low-carbon energy solutions in transport and industry. However, we also actively engage on policy topics that apply across the whole energy system and wider economy.
Governments have an indispensable role to play in the energy transition. The need for comprehensive, coherent and consistent policy frameworks that will drive decarbonisation in key sectors is crucial. Policy choices should be informed by the robust and transparent modelling of the impacts on consumers and industry as well as the impact on emissions.
Shell believes that a price on carbon is a central pillar of any comprehensive net zero-emissions (NZE) policy framework. A carbon price provides an economic signal to help change the behaviour of consumers, businesses, and investors; spurring technological innovation and generating revenues that can be allocated towards the energy transition.
Carbon credits, generated through high-integrity projects, can be used to compensate for emissions that cannot be avoided or reduced. We believe that NZE policy frameworks should recognise the important contribution that carbon credits can make and support international carbon market co-operation.
People rely on affordable and secure energy for everyday life. It is therefore critical that the world does not dismantle the current energy system faster than it can build the low-carbon energy system of the future. We work with governments, communities and partners to provide input into the development of policy and regulatory mechanisms which support the production and supply of oil and gas with less emissions.
We believe that natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) will play a key role in the energy transition by providing energy security, flexibility alongside renewable energy, as well as a lower-carbon alternative to coal in power and industry. We are also responsibly producing the oil that will be needed for decades to come, with a focus on cost and carbon competitiveness.
Reducing methane emissions is an urgent priority for the oil and gas sector, and we believe it is crucial to help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Methane is the main component of natural gas and is a relatively short-lived but highly potent greenhouse gas. It is released through routine flaring and venting during oil and gas and LNG production and can also leak during the production and transport of oil and gas. Shell remains a leader in reducing methane emissions. As of January 2025, we have eliminated routine flaring from our Upstream operated assets1 – five years ahead of the deadline adopted by most companies in our sector.
1 This was achieved following the completion of essential gas capture projects and the shut-in of remaining facilities that do not yet meet the applicable emissions standards by The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC). As a result, on January 1, 2025, SPDC ceased routine flaring of associated gas. On March 13, 2025, Shell completed the sale of SPDC to Renaissance.
We are aiming to take the lead in the energy transition where we have competitive strengths, see strong customer demand, and identify clear regulatory support from governments. The transport and industry sectors are good examples. Demand for energy services in these sectors will continue to grow and evolve and will have to be met by a combination of different types of energy. The pace of change, and choice of solution will vary by region, country and sector.
We expect passenger cars will make the transition to low-carbon fuels most rapidly, with electric vehicles replacing petrol and diesel cars. Our investment in electric vehicle charging is prioritised towards seven leading markets for electric vehicle adoption – China, Singapore, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and the USA.
In commercial road transport and aviation, oil products dominate because of their high energy density, convenience and cost competitiveness. We are focussing on producing biofuels, such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel, to reduce emissions in these sectors. In the marine sector we expect demand for LNG as a fuel to grow before other solutions such as renewable natural gas are available. For industrial customers, especially in slower-to-abate sectors, we see continued switching from coal to natural gas and LNG and then growing demand for CCS and hydrogen.
Policy plays a key role in helping to shift customer demand, further technology development and infrastructure investment in road transport towards low-carbon energy. Policy roadmaps, low-carbon product demand stimulation through mandates or targets, anticipatory support for infrastructure, and support and incentives for low-carbon choices will all be important.
We are focusing on the supply of low-carbon solutions for transport and industry where we can have the biggest impact. This includes low-carbon fuels, selective renewable generation, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and hydrogen for the future.
Stimulating the supply of these solutions requires long-term policy support, policy stability and coherent policy frameworks addressing both supply and demand, to give businesses confidence to invest in large-scale assets or electricity grids that deliver benefits over decades.
Support such as grants, tax incentives and integrated infrastructure planning can all help attract capital investment into these technologies. Policy makers can also set mandates or targets to stimulate uptake, standards to ensure quality, streamlined permitting to accelerate the pace of construction, and incentives for innovation in emerging battery, storage or low-carbon fuel technologies.
Updates to our positions
Updates to our positions
Our global positions were comprehensively updated in March 2024 to align with Shell’s Energy Transition Strategy 2024. In May 2025, we made minor updates to some positions, and more substantive updates to the positions for shipping and road transport, to reflect our strategy and/or external developments. This included combining our separate positions for passenger road and heavy-duty road into one combined road transport position.
Cautionary note
Cautionary note
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Forward-Looking statements
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Shell’s net carbon intensity
Also, in this content we may refer to Shell’s “net carbon intensity” (NCI), which includes Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell’s NCI also includes the emissions associated with the production and use of energy products produced by others which Shell purchases for resale. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the terms Shell’s “net carbon intensity” or NCI is for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.
Shell’s net-zero emissions target
Shell’s operating plan and outlook are forecasted for a three-year period and ten-year period, respectively, and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next three and ten years. Accordingly, the outlook reflects our Scope 1, Scope 2 and NCI targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plan and outlook cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target, as this target is outside our planning period. Such future operating plans and outlooks could include changes to our portfolio, efficiency improvements and the use of carbon capture and storage and carbon credits. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans and outlooks to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.
Forward-Looking non-GAAP measures
This content may contain certain forward-looking non-GAAP measures such as adjusted earnings and divestments. We are unable to provide a reconciliation of these forward-looking non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures because certain information needed to reconcile those non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is dependent on future events some of which are outside the control of Shell, such as oil and gas prices, interest rates and exchange rates. Moreover, estimating such GAAP measures with the required precision necessary to provide a meaningful reconciliation is extremely difficult and could not be accomplished without unreasonable effort. Non-GAAP measures in respect of future periods which cannot be reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are calculated in a manner which is consistent with the accounting policies applied in Shell plc’s consolidated financial statements.
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