European pension providers are celebrating their success following dialogue with Shell that has led to the energy giant agreeing to disclose its lobbying activities.

Dialogue between Shell and Denmark’s Sampension, Norway’s KLP and Australian NGO the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), means that in the future, Shell will outline its climate and energy-related lobbying activities in several emerging countries.

It follows a recent ACCR report that revealed that Shell only discloses its lobbying activities in a small group of developed countries, not in emerging countries. According to the report, it is estimated that almost 60 per cent of Shell's fossil fuel production in 2024-2050 will come from emerging countries.

The three investors were planning to submit a shareholder resolution to Shell’s annual general meeting in May but after engaging with the company, Shell committed to their requests. It will disclose the information in five to ten emerging countries that are important to its strategy.

"We are very pleased that Shell – after having engaged in a dialogue with us, ACCR and KLP – will now disclose the company's lobbying activities in a number of emerging countries, which will play an important role in Shell's fossil fuel strategy towards 2050. If we as an investor are to contribute to getting fossil fuel companies to take steps in a greener direction, companies first need to be transparent so that we can relate to their behaviour,” Sampension head of ESG, Jacob Ehlerth Jørgensen, said.

"The successful dialogue with Shell, which has now led to a very concrete result, is also a good example of why, in our opinion, it is generally better to stay at the table and be persistent if you as an investor want to make a difference in the companies where you want to see change. Many companies are open to working with investors on how they can improve in areas such as climate change. Conversely, if we had sold our investment in Shell, we would not have had the opportunity to contribute to progress in the company or, for that matter, the climate.

"Of course, we are aware that there are companies that cannot and will not move, and it does not make sense for us to be invested in them. But our general experience is that in companies where there is a willingness to cooperate with investors, investors can help bring about positive changes if they join forces with other responsible investors to exert their influence – even if the changes don't happen overnight," Ehlerth Jørgensen concluded.

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