Environment groups criticize Shell CEO van der Veer for undermining Climate Policies

Brussels, Amsterdam, London, Washington – 29th June 2009

Fresh evidence of oil giant Shell’s colossal contribution to global climate change and its continued investment in carbon intensive fossil fuels has been revealed today in a new report.[1] The report also reveals new internal documents that show that Shell knew of the environmental dangers of gas flaring in Nigeria more than fifteen years ago, but chose not to stop for purely financial reasons.

As Shell’s new Chief Executive, Peter Voser, takes charge this week, Friends of the Earth, Oil Change International and PLATFORM have released new research showing that despite attempts by outgoing CEO, Jeroen van der Veer, to portray a green image, the company has opted for a way forward that is in stark contradiction with the need to reduce CO2 emissions. Shell’s heavy investments in the most carbon-emitting energy sources, such as tar sands, liquefied natural gas and crude oil from Nigeria – which is associated with huge levels of gas flaring – make it the dirtiest of all major oil companies with regard to CO2 emissions.

The three campaign groups call on the EU and the US to stop listening to Shell in discussions of how to tackle climate change. They say van der Veer has personally led lobby efforts in Brussels against improvements to the EU’s Emission Trading System, and threatened to move refineries out of Europe if Shell and other oil companies were made to pay for their emissions.

Paul de Clerck from Friends of the Earth International said: “Shell attempts to paint itself as a sustainable company when in reality it is the dirtiest oil producer of all. It continues to make huge profits but still argues that it cannot afford to pay for effective CO2 reduction measures. The EU should no longer listen to Shell in talks about tackling climate change.”

Since 1996 Shell has promised to stop gas flaring in Nigeria – the biggest contributor to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. But the company has repeatedly broken its promises and rejected statements by the Nigerian government that flaring should be stopped. Shell refuses to implement the 2011 deadline imposed by the Nigerian government for phasing out gas flaring and is now speaking about a 2013 phase out.

Steve Kretzmann from Oil Change International said: ‘Shell could stop flaring gas in Nigeria for only 10% of last years’ profit for the company. The company’s new head, Peter Voser, has the power to stop gas flaring, spare Nigerians from inhaling deadly toxins, and help to curb climate change in one stroke. The question is: will he?”

Today’s report, ‘Shell’s Big Dirty Secret’, comes after a global backlash against the energy giant’s abuses of human rights and the environment. On June 8, Shell was forced to pay $15.5 million to settle an embarrassing lawsuit in the US for human rights abuses in Nigeria. The company is also facing legal action in The Hague concerning repeated oil spills which have damaged the livelihoods of Nigerian fisherfolk and farmers.

CONTACT:

Belgium: Paul de Clerck, Friends of the Earth International:
+32-494-38-09-59 or paul@milieudefensie.nl

Netherlands: Anne van Schaik, Friends of the Earth Netherlands,
+31-20-5507387, +31-6-21829589, anne.van.schaik@milieudefensie.nl

U.S. (DC): Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change International, +1-202-497-1033;
steve@priceofoil.org

U.K. (London): Ben Amunwa, PLATFORM, +44-207-357-0055, +44-7891-454-714,
ben@remembersarowiwa.com

NOTES:
The report, ‘Shell’s Big Dirty Secret’ is available HERE.

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Visit www.ShellGuilty.com for more information. The ShellGuilty campaign is a global coalition including Friends of the Earth (www.foei.org), Oil Change International (www.priceofoil.org), and PLATFORM’s remember saro-wiwa project (www.remembersarowiwa.com), with support from environmental and human rights groups in Nigeria, North America, and Europe.

Damning Evidence Reveals Shell’s Complicity In Crimes Against Humanity;

Landmark Case Resolved in Favor of Ogoni Plaintiffs After 14 Year Legal Battle

New York– After legal battles lasting nearly fourteen years, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been forced to pay a $15.5 million out-of-court settlement. Plaintiffs from the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta have successfully held Shell accountable for complicity in human rights atrocities committed against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, including the execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. The legal action is one of the few cases brought under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute that have been resolved in favor of the plaintiffs. The settlement includes establishment of a $5 million trust to benefit local communities in Ogoni.

“We congratulate the plaintiffs on their victory. Let there be no doubt that Shell has emerged guilty. With this settlement, Shell is seeking to keep the overwhelming evidence of its crimes away from the scrutiny of a jury trial,” said Ben Amunwa from the UK-based remember saro-wiwa project. “Shell could not stand the damage of bad publicity around this human rights case. Global campaigners have helped to highlight Shell’s abuses and we share in this historic victory.”

“Shell is guilty. Despite this victory, justice will not be served in Ogoni and throughout the Delta until the gas flares are put out, the spills cleaned up, and the military stops protecting the oil companies and starts serving the people,” said Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International. “This issue will not be solved until these legitimate grievances of the community are addressed.”

“This case should be a wake up call to multinational corporations that they will be held accountable for violations of international law, no matter where they occur,” said Han Shan, ShellGuilty Campaign Coordinator for Oil Change International.

The next phase of the struggle continues with another case involving an Ogoni plaintiff pending in the New York District Court, and a further legal action in The Hague, Netherlands, where Royal Dutch Shell is headquartered. The company faces a legal action in the Netherlands for repeated oil spills, brought by residents of the Niger Delta, with support from Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Friends of the Earth Nigeria.

“Shell will be dragged from the boardroom to the courthouse, time and again, until the company addresses the injustices at the root of the Niger Delta crisis and puts an end to its environmental devastation,” said Elizabeth Bast, International Program Director for Friends of the Earth U.S. “Communities, human rights lawyers and activists will continue to demand justice with the same determination and hope shown by Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni people.”

CONTACT:
U.K. (London): Ben Amunwa, PLATFORM/Remember Saro-Wiwa, +44-207-357-0055, +44-7891-454-714, ben@remembersarowiwa.com
U.S. (DC): Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change International, +1-202-497-1033; steve@priceofoil.org
U.S. (NY): Han Shan, Oil Change International, +1-917-418-4133, han@priceofoil.org
U.S. (DC): Elizabeth Bast, Friends of the Earth U.S., +1-202-222-0719, ebast@foe.org

The ShellGuilty campaign is a coalition effort of Friends of the Earth (www.foe.org), Oil Change International (www.priceofoil.org), and PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project (www.remembersarowiwa.com), with support from environmental and human rights groups in Nigeria, North America, and Europe. Visit www.ShellGuilty.com for more information.

Wednesday 27th May 2009

CONTACT:
Nigeria, Celestine Akpobari, Ogoni Solidarity Forum, +234 8032733965
Ken Henshaw, Social Action, +234 8034053707
US, Celia Alario, +1(310) 721-6517
UK, Benjamin, PLATFORM, +44 207 357 0055

Stunning protests swept three different countries ahead of the delayed Wiwa v Shell trial. The trial was due to open on 27th May, but the court announced a delay yesterday without setting a new date, saying that the earliest that jury selection would begin would be June 2nd. Despite the delay, hundreds of people across the globe demanded that Shell be held to account for human rights abuses.

In Nigeria, a rally, a candlelit vigil at the graveside of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and a mock trial were held at Bane, in Saro-Wiwa’s community. The events ran into controversy after Rivers State Police arrested a number of women activists in an attempt to prevent them from attending demonstrations. Protestors demanded their release, and eventually forced the police to release the detainees and respect their right to protest.

A noon rally took place in New York at Foley Square in Manhattan, near the federal courthouse where the trial had been scheduled to open today. A hundred supporters came out ahead of the trial, unfurling a banner that read, ‘JUSTICE FOR THE OGONI’. Inspiring speakers stressed that Shell cannot escape justice for their role in human rights abuses in the 1990s, and put pressure on Shell to end the ongoing environmental and social devastation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. A group of Ogoni activists closed the event by singing the Ogoni solidarity anthem.

In the UK, protestors in London targeted Shell’s London Headquarters at Waterloo with activists handing out leaflets to Shell employees while chanting, ‘Justice is coming’. The protests were coordinated by the ShellGuilty coalition and global partners. Photos of each of the protests are available to download along with a note of information. Click here for Nigeria, New York, and London.

Ben Amunwa from PLATFORM said, “This trial is long overdue. In 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa was framed and executed so that Shell and the Nigerian regime could continue pumping oil at a devastating cost for local communities. Global activists spoke in one voice today to demand that Shell held to account for its crimes.”

Steve Kretzmann from Oil Change International said, “We are pleased that Shell is due to be on trial in New York, but real justice is an end to Shell’s daily abuse of human rights in Nigeria. Shell continues to ignore the suffering of communities in the Niger Delta and to destroy their land and health with toxic gas flares.”

NOTES:

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a writer and leading activist demanding rights for Nigeria’s Ogoni people, including an end to Shell’s gas flaring in Ogoni regions. As a result of his activism, Saro-Wiwa was detained, imprisoned and tortured throughout the early 1990s. On November 10, 1995, Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were executed by the Nigerian government for their campaigning. Substantial evidence indicates Shell collaborated with the Nigerian government in a campaign of brutal crackdowns that culminated in the execution of Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. Shell may be forced to face this evidence in US federal district court in New York City. The court has said that at the earliest jury selection would begin on June 2nd.

For more information visit www.ShellGuilty.com.

Friends of the Earth International is the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 80 countries. Friends of the Earth campaigns on today’s most urgent environmental and social issues.

Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of oil and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. Oil Change is dedicated to identifying and overcoming political barriers to that transition.

PLATFORM is a U.K.-based arts and campaign group focusing on the impact of the oil and gas industry on the rights of local communities. PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project aims to create a permanent Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa in London and to raise awareness about the ongoing environmental and social devastation of the Niger Delta by oil companies, particularly Shell.

International Experts to Speak About Shell in Nigeria, Then and Now

Who: International experts and campaigners, supporters of corporate accountability, human rights, and environmental justice.  Speakers to include:  Brent Blackwelder, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International and Ben Anumwa, campaigner from PLATFORM. (see bios below)

What: Rally, speakers, creative political theater

Where: Foley Square, Manhattan, at the ‘Triumph of the Spirit Monument’ across from U.S. Federal Courthouse

When: 12:00pm Noon, Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Why: Rally to support landmark trial, and call for end to Shell’s abuses in Nigeria

New York–A rally will proceed as scheduled in Foley Square, close to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse beginning at noon tomorrow, Wednesday May 27, despite a last minute announcement today of a delay in the opening of the landmark Wiwa v. Shell trial.

International experts and campaigners will be on hand to provide commentary and up-to-the-minute analysis on the current situation, including ongoing gas flaring in the Niger Delta. The rally is being organized by members of the ShellGuilty Campaign: a coalition effort of Friends of the Earth U.S. and Friends of the Earth International, Oil Change International and PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project, with support from environmental and human rights groups in Nigeria, North America, and Europe.

The rally in New York tomorrow follows after troops broke up peaceful protests in Nigeria today, where activists from Ogoni and other communities were barred from solidarity rallies and some arrested by soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Rivers State. Most of those arrested are women (in 5 buses) were on their way to Ken Saro-Wiwa’s village for a rally to protest the complicity of Shell and the Nigerian government in the Ogoni murders in advance of the opening of the trial in New York.

Visit www.ShellGuilty.com for more information on gas flaring, and our efforts to demand that Shell comes clean, and ends gas flaring once and for all.

Background:

After more than thirteen years, multinational oil giant Royal Dutch Shell must finally answer to charges that it conspired with the Nigerian military to bring about the execution of Nigerian human rights and environmental leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues. The November 10, 1995 executions of the ‘Ogoni 9’ caused global outrage, and a massive backlash against the company.

Shell also faces charges for arming, financing, and transporting the Nigerian military, which conducted raids on villages that resulted in beatings, torture, shootings, and killings of innocent people in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta. The plaintiffs, including Saro-Wiwa’s family, charge Shell with colluding with the military to suppress nonviolent opposition to its operations in the oil-rich Delta region.

The historic trial will open in the wake of recent raids by the Nigerian military in the Niger Delta, which local people have said resulted in massacres of civilians. The military has said its operations intended to root out armed groups that are opposed to the exploitation of oil resources by foreign multinationals.

# # #

International Experts Available for Interviews and Analysis:

Steve Kretzmann is Executive Director of Oil Change International and has worked on international oil issues for more than 20 years. He was an advisor to Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. In April 2009, he testified in the US Congress regarding the impact of the oil industry on the Niger Delta. Cell: +1 202 497 1033

Ben Amunwa is a campaigner for PLATFORM, a charity that focuses on the impact of the oil industry on local communities. He coordinates remember saro-wiwa, a project to create a Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa in London, UK. The project uses art and activism to raise awareness about the ongoing injustices in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta. Ben has relatives in oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta. Cell: +1 617 717 4653

Han Shan is ShellGuilty Campaign Coordinator for Oil Change International. A longtime human rights and environmental activist and film producer, he’s traveled internationally investigating human rights and social justice issues. Han and be video blogging and Twittering from the courthouse during the trial. Cell: +1 917 418 4133

Nnimmo Bassey is Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria (also known as Environmental Rights Action). Nnimmo established the organization in response to human rights abuses in Nigeria that have stemmed from the unbridled pursuit of natural resources by both government and transnational corporations. Over the 9-year history of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Nnimmo has suffered arrests and harassments aimed at silencing him and preventing him from associating with other advocacy groups. Tel/Fax: +234-52-880-619. Cell: +234 803 727 4395