A project by SOMO, TNI and codeROOD
Future Beyond Shell
There is a Future Beyond Shell; it is necessary, overdue and inevitable. It is a decade of the just transition where we collectively join forces to dissolve, decommission and ‘sunset’ Royal Dutch Shell by any legal, political and economic means possible.
But how do we radically and responsibly restructure Royal Dutch Shell andother carbon majors? How can we support communities, social movements, sectors, and industries now to move towards the future we want?
Get inspired by the new web platform futurebeyondshell.org, presenting you the latest research, stories and imaginaries on how to dissolve corporate power and democratise the energy sector!
What the hell is wrong with Shell again?
Shell is among the top 10 of biggest contributors to the climatecrisis and still spends over 95% of its investment expenditure onfossil fuels extraction.
Shell has been aware of the climate impacts of its operations atleast since 1986, and knowingly contributed to “significant changesin sea level, ocean currents, precipitation patterns, regionaltemperature and weather”, as was stated in its own internalreports. It has spent millions of euros on lobbying against climatepolicies, and has been blatantly misleading the public’s perceptionwith its numerous green-, pink-, and art-washing campaigns.
Shell has been repeatedly involved in human rights violations andenvironmental damages to carry out its business, and has consistentlyavoided paying compensations to affected communities and repairingecosystems.
Shell benefits from massive state subsidies and does not pay anyprofit taxes in the Netherlands. Its CEO earns a thousand times morethan the minimum wage.
Shell is a shareholder-owned company locked-into a colonialcapitalist profit maximisation model, which is legally inadequate forimplementing the necessary changes in a rapid and accountable manner.
What about all the other carbon majors?
The privatised, financialised, corporate organisation of theenergy sector is by design destructive to workers, communities on thefrontlines, the environment, and society as a whole. However, webelieve no carbon major is too big to fail. We seek activecooperation with allies across the world to take on publicly tradedcompanies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Total, ENI as well asstate-owned ones like Aramco, Gasprom, PetroChina and Petrobras.
What does this project intend to achieve?
It is clear that Shell’s business model is unethical,ecologically disastrous and economically non-viable. Deep structuralchanges are urgently needed to be enforced upon Shell, instead ofwaiting for voluntary, incremental adjustments.
However, we are aware that stating these facts is never enough: weneed a broader social consensus to bring about the changes we need.After being deceived by Shell for several decades it should be up tothe public to determine the future of the oil majors. With thisproject we aim to:
- to disseminate and discuss the latest research, strategies and imaginaries on reigning over corporate power and democratising the energy sector
- to strengthen the grounds for a common political resolution carried by various movements to radically and responsibly restructure Shell and other carbon majors
What about this coalition?
We – SOMO, TNI and codeROOD – are an informal coalition. Forthis project each member took a different focus point. The differentarticles and reports therefore do not necessarily reflect the opinionof all members of the coalition.