Shell joins ranks in fight against climate change

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is taking the road less traveled by supporting strong cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

Shell signed a non-binding document, called the Trillion Tonne Communique, along with 70 other companies like Adidas and Unilever, which calls for ambitious timelines to bring global greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” by the end of the century.

{mosads}”We recognize that over the long term, net global emissions must trend towards zero. Both of our New Lens Scenarios show that this objective can be realized by the end of this century, but not without action by governments to stimulate changes in the energy system and considerable deployment of carbon capture and storage,” a spokesman for Shell said in an email to The Hill.

The communique is sponsored by the Prince of Wales’ Corporate Leaders Group, which brings business leaders from across the globe together to address climate change.

“This communiqué sends a clear message from business at a critical time, when events in the Ukraine have refocused global attention on energy security, and just as the scientific consensus reminds us all of the imperative of collective action,” said Eliot Whittington, deputy director of the Corporate Leaders Group, in a press release.

Companies that signed the document are endorsing action to limit overall greenhouse gas emission to less than 1 trillion tons of carbon since the start of the industrial era, a target the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in a report last year.

Shell’s move is a far cry from the likes of ExxonMobil, which touted oil and gas production shortly after the United Nations climate panel released its latest report earlier this month.

Exxon’s report to shareholders said governments are “highly unlikely” to adopt politics that drastically cut emissions because that would stunt economic growth.