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Ethical leadership

Powering progress

Powering Progress is underpinned by our core values of honesty, integrity and respect for people and our focus on safety. These include our commitment to doing business in an ethical and transparent way.

Our core values of honesty, integrity and respect for people underpin our work with employees, customers, investors, contractors, suppliers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and others. The Shell General Business Principles set out our core values, our responsibilities and the principles and behaviours that guide how we do business.

Code of Conduct

Shell employees, contractors and third parties can report any potential breaches of the Code of Conduct confidentially through several channels, including anonymously through a global helpline, operated by an independent provider. The three most frequent categories of alleged Code of Conduct breaches raised via the Shell Global Helpline in 2021 related to harassment, conflicts of interest and protection of assets. We maintain a stringent no retaliation policy to protect any person making an allegation in good faith.

Anti-bribery and corruption

Shell has rules on anti-bribery and corruption in our Code of Conduct and Ethics and Compliance Manual. Contractors and consultants are also required to act consistently with our Code of Conduct when working on our behalf.

Shell has around 24,000 suppliers worldwide (see Supply chain). Although our largest suppliers often have their own anti-bribery and corruption training programmes, smaller companies may lack the resources. We offer free training in anti-bribery and anti-corruption practices to selected suppliers and contractors. This training is offered in 14 languages. By the end of 2021, we had offered training to more than 1,300 third parties in 16 countries.

Read more at www.shell.com/sustainability/transparency-and-sustainability-reporting/transparency-and-anti-corruption.

Protecting personal data

Shell respects the privacy of individuals and recognises that personal data belong to the individual. We take action to manage personal data in a professional, lawful and ethical way. 

Shell is subjected to frequent cyber-security attacks. We regularly monitor our IT systems for possible vulnerabilities. Our incident-handling process helps to ensure that we deal effectively with an issue.

In 2021 there were:

  • 1,479

    reports to the Shell Global Helpline

  • 181

    confirmed breaches of the Code of Conduct

  • 244

    employees or contractor staff subject to disciplinary action

  • 67

    people dismissed

  • 6.7

    million counterparties screened for trade compliance, anti-bribery, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering on an ongoing basis

  • 2,444

    enhanced pre-screenings for higher-risk contracts

Read more about how we do business and ethical leadership at www.shell.com/sustainability/our-approach/commitments-policies-and-standards/business-integrity and www.shell.com/values and www.shell.com/shell-ethics-and-compliance-manual.

NGO
non-governmental organisation
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