Climate Crisis: Reject Shell Net-Zero and Make Big Polluters Pay – VALD

Vision for Alternative Development (VALD) – a civil society organization with strong interest in issues of climate change, on Tuesday picketed at various locations in Accra to protest the false solutions to climate change as being offered by Shell in its Net-Zero emissions policy.

Shell has set new carbon emission goals to become a net-zero carbon energy company by 2050, as it continues to grow its gas business by more than 20% in the next few years. The company says its goal is to be a net-zero carbon company within the next 30 years.

VALD’s call is part of a move by hundreds of civil society groups in Africa and across the globe to demand governments to hold Big Polluters liable for the harms they have knowingly caused humanity and the environment, and particularly, hold Shell accountable for its climate crimes.

The protest was happening at the time Shell was holding its annual shareholders’ meeting in The Hague, Netherlands. The primary goal of the meeting was to propagate Shell’s “net-zero” emission policy to its shareholders.

“Unfortunately, while Shell continues to trumpet its net-zero pledge to end flares by the year 2050, communities across the African continent including communities in Ghana who are frontlines of the climate crisis, are saying enough to the false solutions to climate change and demanding REAL ACTION. These communities are saying Shell must be held accountable for its climate crimes,” stated Labram Massawudu Musah, who is the Programmes Director at VALD.

Addressing journalists shortly after the picketing, Labram Musah revealed that “These “net-zero” schemes from Big Polluters are greenwashing lies and amount to “too little, too late” from corporations like Shell that have knowingly fueled the climate crisis and evaded accountability for human rights abuses like the devastation in the Niger Delta for decades”.

“We are sending a strong signal to Shell and its stakeholders that we cannot afford to fall for the same tricks that they and the rest of the fossil fuel industry have been playing for decades with their deceptive greenwashing schemes, now taking the shape of their meaningless “Net Zero” climate pledges. The shreds of evidence are clear now as communities across Africa know the real solutions. As such we are calling on our governments to stand with people and communities, not Big Polluters, so together we reject Net Zero pledges and Make Big Polluters Pay”.

He urged the government of Ghana to ensure that frontline communities affected by climate change and environmental damages, and actions of the extractive industry and big polluters pay for the crisis they have caused. VALD is of the view that it is not enough to legitimize the work of extractive industry or halt their operations but to also hold them liable.

The key concerns of VALD and other CSOs in Africa are captured below:

Key points to note:

• It is imperative to stress that for decades, Shell has known that burning fossil fuels is fueling the climate crisis, yet worked tirelessly to undermine climate policy and escape accountability for its abuses.
• As the climate crisis intensifies, Shell is facing a growing movement demanding it pays for its decades of deception and human rights abuses. Amidst this, the corporation is trying to greenwash its way out of being held accountable with ineffectual pledges of “net-zero by 2050”.
  • More than a dozen lawsuits by U.S. cities and the state of Rhode Island have named Shell and other major oil corporations demanding they be held liable for damages related to climate change

• “Net-Zero” is a scam. It is increasingly being used by a majority of polluting governments and corporations to evade responsibility, shift burdens (increasingly to developing countries like Ghana), and disguise climate inaction
• Net-zero is being used to greenwash business-as-usual as corporations scale up fossil fuel extraction, burning, and emissions
  1. An analysis by Oil Change International of corporate net zero pledges showed that on almost every count, pledges for net-zero emissions by Shell were “grossly insufficient”
  2. Specifically, within its most recent climate pledges, this analysis shows Shell has no plans to stop exploration, stop approving new extraction projects, nor to set a long-term production phase-out plan aligned with 1.5C

• “Net-zero” pledges overwhelming rely on either emissions offsets or nonexistent carbon capture technologies. They are not a viable or just strategy for keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees
• What Africa and the world needs are real solutions like those embedded in the liability
  • We must:
    1. Keep fossil fuels in the ground,
    2. End handouts for polluting corporations, and
• Make Big Polluters pay for decades of deception and abuse.

The Vision for Alternative Development today joins climate justice partners and like-minded organizations in calling on our governments to:

• Reject net zero and Big Polluters’ false “solutions”, and
• Hold corporations like Shell accountable for their decades of deception and abuse. It is time to Make Big Polluters Pay!

Finally, the harm and damages caused by these big polluters such as Shell are far worse than the benefit they bring to us as a country and to the African continent. We cannot take further risks as the future of our environment is uncertain. The liability roadmap provides clear and positive guidelines for our government to choose good over evil.

CSOs will continue to engage governments and advocate for the implementation of climate real solutions encapsulated in the liability roadmap.