Better Health for All

Shell's core business, primarily oil and gas, results in severe, widespread health damage, evidenced by 1.1 billion metric tons of Scope 3 CO2 equivalent emissions from the combustion of fuel it sells in 2024.

These emissions also represent severe negative health externalities, alongside pollution and environmental damage from incidents like the Gannet Alpha spill. The company has one of the worst safety records in the UK, having been officially censured 25 times for breaking safety rules in the last six years and prosecuted four times since 2005 for incidents including an explosion and a fatality. Additionally, Shell was served 21 prohibition and improvement notices by HSE safety inspectors since 2005. The company demonstrated poor risk transparency, criticized for failing to be open about an oil leak and accused by HSE of failing to report a dangerous occurrence by the quickest practicable means.

Honest & Fair Business

Shell incurred approximately $29.1 million in ethics-related regulatory fines over the past three years (2022-2024).

These penalties included $5 million for MTBE violations, $10.6 million for environmental violations, $1.3 million for air pollution, $219,261 for oil and gas drilling violations, and $2 million for price-fixing or anti-competitive practices. The company has a comprehensive whistleblower policy, communicated through its Code of Conduct, which includes a Global Helpline, promises anonymity, states concerns will be investigated quickly, and explicitly prohibits retaliation. Shell also maintains a robust anti-corruption policy that strictly forbids the direct or indirect offer, payment, soliciting, or acceptance of bribes and facilitation payments. This policy requires compliance from business partners, including joint ventures, contractors, and suppliers, and states adherence to all national and international anti-bribery laws and regulations.

No War, No Weapons

Shell is accused of complicity in the unlawful arrest, detention, and execution of nine men by Nigeria’s military government in the 1990s.

Shell worked closely with the government and “knew full well that the government regularly violated” human rights, but it continued discussing problems with the government rather than speaking out against the abuses the government was committing. As of June 2025, Shell did not respond to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre regarding alleged involvement in extractive conflicts. Shell's Supplier Principles cover human rights, aligning with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Shell actively implemented the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights since 2000.

Planet-Friendly Business

Shell PLC's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions were around 1.2 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2024.

This included 50 million tons from Scope 1 , 8 million tons from Scope 2 , and 1.1 billion tons from Scope 3 .

Respect for Cultures & Communities

In 2023, allegations arose concerning Shell's partner Carbonext, which reportedly convinced Indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon to sign documents with blank pages and offered front money for carbon credit rights without full understanding or consent.

This incident led to Carbonext withdrawing from the project after an administrative proceeding, indicating a reactive response to a cultural incident. This also highlighted a lack of adherence to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), suggesting inconsistent implementation of cultural impact assessment protocols, despite Shell's stated policy of conducting impact assessments for major projects and aligning cultural heritage requirements with international standards. Conversely, Shell demonstrated strong local procurement in 2023, with 83% of its spending on goods and services directed to suppliers in the same country of operation. Between 2021 and 2023, 94% of employees assigned human rights training, which includes cultural heritage and Indigenous peoples topics, completed it. In 2023, 77% of community complaints, requests, and questions were resolved by community engagement practitioners. The company also implements active protection measures for cultural sites, including aligning cultural heritage requirements with international standards and developing Chance Find Procedures, with no reported incidents of disruption to cultural or heritage sites.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Shell retracted its 2025 goal to convert 1 million tonnes of plastic waste annually into pyrolysis oil.

, , concluding in 2023 that this target was unfeasible. , Despite this, the company has implemented several waste reduction initiatives. Shell has invested in pyrolysis since 2019. and first used oil made via pyrolysis in one of its Louisiana chemical plants in 2019. A plant in Moerdijk, Netherlands, is expected to start production in 2024 with a capacity to process up to 50,000 tonnes of pyrolysis oil per year. In 2023, Shell also signed strategic co-operation agreements with partners to secure plastic waste feedstock and enable long-term storage of pyrolysis oil.