Sustainability at Shell
Sustainable development goals
About our data
Energy transition and climate change
Sustainability at Shell
Sustainability at Shell means providing energy in a responsible manner, respecting people, their safety and the environment.
Shell’s core values of honesty, integrity and respect for people – first laid out in the Shell General Business Principles more than 40 years ago – underpin our approach. A commitment to contribute to sustainable development was added in 1997. These principles, together with our Shell Code of Conduct, apply to the way we do business and to our conduct with the communities where we operate.
We share knowledge and experience with a number of organisations to improve approaches to areas such as environmental sustainability, climate change and technology. We also support the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several external voluntary codes promoting responsible business practices, including, the UN Global Compact, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.
We support the UN Paris Agreement on climate change. We welcome and will play our part in helping governments and society to achieve the UN's sustainable development goals, which seek to tackle the world’s economic, social and environmental challenges by 2030. We also regularly provide information to various indices, and engage with customers and suppliers through their sustainability questionnaires.
Integrating sustainability
Our approach to sustainability is integrated across our business activities on three levels:
Running a safe, efficient, responsible and profitable business
Safeguarding and respecting people – our employees, contractors and neighbours – is fundamental to how we do business. This includes having global standards, processes and tools in place to manage safety, the environment and how we engage with communities. We aim to continuously improve the way we operate to prevent incidents and to identify, avoid where possible and minimise adverse environmental and social impacts. For more details on our 2017 performance in these areas see Our performance and data.
Sharing wider benefits where we operate
We plan our business for the long term to help ensure we play a positive role in communities where we operate and in wider society. We contribute to the development of local economies by creating jobs, boosting skills, sourcing from local suppliers and helping to improve industry standards, as well as paying taxes and royalties. We support community projects that are based on the needs of the local communities.
Helping to shape a more sustainable energy future
Achieving a more sustainable energy future requires an energy transition that allows society to reduce its emissions, tackle climate change, while also extending the economic and social benefits of energy to everyone. This ambition requires a change in the way energy is produced, used and made accessible to more people while drastically cutting emissions. It is feasible but requires urgent action and long-term vision. Shell is a willing and able player in this transition. We will play our role where it makes commercial sense, in oil and gas, as well as in low-carbon technologies and renewable energy sources. But there is the need for society as a whole to address the climate challenge. We advocate that businesses, governments and civil society work together to shape a more sustainable energy future.
For Shell's view of the energy transition and our strategic response to it, see Our strategy and the Energy transition.