Rimbawatch: Shell should compensate for climate change impact

Environmental watchdog Rimbawatch has urged oil giant Shell to use its massive profits to compensate for loss and damage through climate change impact.

Rimbawatch cited that two days ago, Shell posted US$6.2 billion in profits made between July and September 2023, which NASA reported as the “warmest summer on record”.

"These fossil fuel profits, however, are made within the context of the industry’s significant impacts on wider society through climate change.

"Shell is a global carbon major. As of 2017, the Carbon Disclosure Project reported that Shell was the ninth-highest emitting company between 1988-2015, and Shell was estimated to be responsible for roughly 3 percent of all global emissions made after the year 1750.

"In 2022 alone, Shell disclosed its total emissions at 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2e3, which is more than three times (compared to) Petronas’ 2022 emissions," said Rimbawatch founder Adam Farhan in a statement, in which he called on the government to adhere to the “polluters pay” principle.

He claimed that despite being aware of the risks of climate change since the 1980s, Shell reportedly backed various groups lobbying against more stringent climate policies, including the American Petroleum Institute.

"The impacts of climate change on the world are increasing in frequency and intensity. In 2022, it was reported that just 10 extreme weather events linked to climate change had caused more than US$3 billion in damages.

"Specifically within Malaysia, Bank Negara estimated that the damages from climate-related events cost the country over RM8 billion in damages over the past 20 years," he added.

Rimbawatch also highlighted the projection by the World Bank which estimates that by 2030, annual damages from climate change in Malaysia will increase to US$1.8 billion and that by 2060 sea level rise will flood 700,000ha of the world’s landmass.

"To combat this, the Malaysian government is projected to be spending RM19 billion on flood mitigation and RM5 billion on coastal protection projections as part of our climate adaptation strategy," it said.

"Later this month, the world will convene at COP28 (the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC) to decide how the UN’s Loss and Damage fund will be managed.

"We call on the Malaysian government to ensure that the ‘polluters pay’ principle is the foundation of the Loss and Damage fund and that high-polluting companies such as Shell and other oil producers are held responsible for reparations from climate change.

"(We also hope that the government) seeks climate funding directly from Shell Malaysia, for example through enforcing a carbon tax on the company that includes the ‘social cost of carbon’, which is an estimate of the damage associated with each additional ton of CO2e emissions," said Rimbawatch.

Malaysiakini has reached out to Shell Malaysia for a response. - Mkini