Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Carbon credits · Netherlands · 2019–2023

Shell nature-based solutions and carbon-neutral driving ads

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 6 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

Shell announced up to $300 million for natural ecosystems and offered customers carbon-neutral driving by offsetting fuel emissions. The Dutch Advertising Code Committee found the carbon-neutral advertising misleading; its rulings are not binding.

up to $300mShell's announced investment in natural ecosystems, 2019–2021
Announced figure, as recorded; amount actually spent not on record.

Status As of 2023 (latest date in the sources): Dutch Advertising Code Committee had found the carbon-neutral ads misleading; Shell had withdrawn its nature-based credit target; no court ruling on record.

What?
Shell advertised carbon-neutral driving based on offsets and announced up to $300 million for natural ecosystems; a Dutch self-regulatory committee found the advertising misleading.
Where?
Netherlands, United Kingdom and Spain (offer); global (Sky 1.5 scenario).
When?
2019–2021 for the investment and offer; rulings 2021–2022; Sky 1.5 in February 2021.
Who?
Gained
  • Shell — Marketed fuel as carbon neutral and published a scenario in which reforestation offsets continued fossil fuel use. Carbon Brief
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
No source states Shell's reasons beyond the announced aims.
How?
Offsets of fuel emissions through nature-based projects; Sky 1.5 assumed about 700 million ha of reforestation. Carbon Brief
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Between 2019 and 2021 Shell announced that it would invest up to $300 million in natural ecosystems, and offered customers in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain the option of "carbon-neutral driving", with the emissions of the fuel they bought offset. In the Netherlands the programme was linked to the planting of 5 million trees over 12 years.

The Dutch Advertising Code Committee (Reclame Code Commissie) found Shell's CO2-neutral advertisements misleading in 2021–2022. The committee's rulings are not legally binding. Other rules that are binding on advertising claims of this kind are listed in the sources reviewed: a German Federal Court of Justice ruling on the term "climate neutral" (27 June 2024) and EU Directive 2024/825 on offset-based neutrality claims.

In February 2021 Shell published its "Sky 1.5" scenario. It assumed about 700 million hectares of reforestation over the century, an area described as close to the size of Brazil, with net-zero emissions reached in 2058 and oil, gas and coal still in use at the end of the century. The scenario also assumed removal of 12 gigatonnes of CO2 a year by 2060.

Reporting on the wider corporate record states that in 2023 Shell withdrew its nature-based credit target of 120 million tonnes a year.

  1. 2019Shell announces up to $300 million for natural ecosystems (2019–2021) and offers carbon-neutral driving; Netherlands programme tied to 5 million trees over 12 years
  2. 2021Shell publishes the Sky 1.5 scenario (February); Dutch Advertising Code Committee rules against CO2-neutral advertising (2021–2022)
  3. 2023Shell withdraws its nature-based credit target of 120 million tonnes a year (as reported)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Could fuel emissions be described as "CO2 neutral" in advertising?
Standard-setters and registries
Dutch Advertising Code Committee

Found Shell's CO2-neutral advertisements misleading (2021–2022); its decisions are not binding.

Company or project
Shell

No response is on record in the sources reviewed.

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Customers could drive "carbon neutral" because Shell offset the emissions of the fuel they bought.
    Shell advertising and customer offer, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Spain, 2019
  • Up to $300 million to be invested in natural ecosystems over 2019–2021; 5 million trees over 12 years in the Netherlands.
    Shell announcement

Recorded

  • The Dutch Advertising Code Committee found Shell's CO2-neutral advertisements misleading; the committee's decisions are not binding.
  • Sky 1.5 assumes about 700 million hectares of reforestation over the century, net zero in 2058 and widespread fossil fuel use in 2100.
    Carbon Brief
  • Reported commitments to the 1t.org tree initiative stood at 134.4 billion trees against 2.6 billion planted or protected in May 2024 (Bloomberg analysis).

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
Announced investment in natural ecosystems$300m
Announced ceiling; the amount spent is not on record.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: 2019–2021. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Land assumed in Sky 1.5
~700 million ha
Reforestation over the century; scenario published February 2021
Regulatory finding
Misleading
Dutch Advertising Code Committee on CO2-neutral ads; not binding
Independent ecological evaluation of the offset projects
None on record
No evaluation in the sources reviewed

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court caseNo independent ecological evaluation

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

Court

Accounts

  • Disputed Could fuel emissions be described as "CO2 neutral" in advertising?
  • None on record Shell: No response is on record in the sources reviewed.

Record

  • None on record The amount Shell actually spent of the announced $300 million: not on record.
  • None on record Which offset projects supplied the credits for the carbon-neutral driving offer, and how many credits were retired: not on record.
  • None on record Shell's own response to the Dutch Advertising Code Committee's findings: no source states it.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Shell decided in 2024 to sell most of its nature-based business.
  • None on record No court ruling on the advertisements is on record.

Did the harm stop?

Not established in the sources reviewed.

Who paid?

Not established in the sources reviewed.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Carbon and conservation finance

Offset
Using carbon credits to balance emissions released elsewhere, so that a buyer can claim lower or zero net emissions.
Retired credit
A credit that has been used to make a climate claim and is permanently removed from circulation in the registry.

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

Law and courts

Arbitration
A private dispute process in which an appointed arbitrator, instead of a court, decides the case.

Insurance

Underwriter
An insurer, or a person at an insurer, who assesses a risk and decides whether and on what terms to insure it.
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