It’s a familiar scene: a group of Greenpeace activists unfurling a giant banner outside Shell’s headquarters, the words “Make Polluters Pay” stretched across the glass. Passers-by stop, snap photos, maybe nod in agreement. With devastating floods, fires and droughts on the rise, there’s no doubt – fossil fuels are making our world more dangerous.
But some might wonder: why blame Shell? After all, don’t we all buy oil and gas?
It’s a fair question, but this way of thinking spreads responsibility too thin. It puts a struggling single mum and the CEO of Shell on equal footing. If everyone’s responsible, then no-one is.
Who’s responsible?
Power is the real question here. Who knew what was coming? Who had choices? Who shaped the system, funded the lies and undermined the solutions? Shell knew. Exxon knew. They had the science. They had the platform. And they made a choice – not once, but again and again over decades – to protect profits over people, delay action, and keep drilling even as the planet burned.
Yes, governments should do more to tackle climate change and force fossil fuel companies to do the right thing. But here’s the crucial point: these companies have fought like hell to kill or weaken government climate policy all over the world.
They’re not just following the law, they’re shaping it. They’re not just supplying the market, they’re creating it.
Here’s a few examples of how that works in practice.
How fossil fuel giants hold back progress on climate action
Companies like Shell aren’t just selling a product people want. They’re fighting like hell to keep us using it for as long as possible.
- They lied. As early as 1959, oil industry executives understood the connection between burning fossil fuels and climate change. In response, the industry launched a campaign of climate denial and disinformation to avoid government regulation.
- They’re still lying. And they’re still at it – Norwegian oil giant Equinor was recently revealed to have funded a computer game that promotes fossil fuels to school children.
- They’re pouring oil on the fire. Shell alone has 700 new oil and gas fields in the pipeline. If they all come to fruition, they would unleash 10.8 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. That’s over 5% of the world’s remaining carbon budget.
- They’re running from their climate targets. Shell, BP backtracking on emissions reductions targets, slashing renewables jobs, leaving industry standards groups
- They got filthy rich off the climate crisis. Shell has made £54bn in profits in just two years following the invasion of Ukraine, but it paid just £1.2bn in taxes in the UK over the same period.
- They’ve shown no intentions of changing. That’s why we need governments to step in, hold them to account, and make them pay.
You can’t turn the oil and gas taps off over-night, of course. But that’s not an argument for standing still.
Right now, fossil fuel companies are doing everything they can to keep us stuck in the past – blocking clean alternatives and pushing new oil projects that make the situation worse. The longer we wait, the harder the journey gets, and the more chaos and destruction we’ll see in the meantime.
That’s why it’s right to hold oil giants to account, and make them pay for the enormous damage they’re causing.