LONDON (Reuters) – Shell said on Thursday it had lowered its target for reducing the intensity of its carbon emissions by 2030 due to forecasts of a drop in electricity sales.

The modification of objectives is a central pillar of the reorganization of the strategy of the general director, Wael Sawan, who arrived in January 2023. He wishes to direct the group towards higher margin projects, stable oil production and growth in oil production. natural gas in order to increase yields.

Shell said it was targeting a 15% to 20% reduction in its net carbon intensity across its portfolio by 2030 compared to 2016 levels, up from 20% previously announced.

The British energy company abandoned its previous target of reducing its carbon intensity by 45% by 2035.

Measuring emissions by intensity means that a company can technically increase its fossil fuel production and overall emissions while using offsets or adding renewable energy or biofuels to its product line.

For Shell, gas, and liquefied natural gas in particular, would play a vital role in the energy transition by replacing more polluting carbon in power plants.

Furthermore, the oil major wishes to favor “value rather than volume in the electricity sector”, and thus forecasts lower growth in electricity sales until 2030, motivating the reduction in the reduction objective of net carbon intensity.

“This includes selling more electricity to commercial customers and less to retail customers,” Shell said in its annual energy transition strategy update.

The company now wants to reduce customer emissions linked to the use of its petroleum products by 15 to 20% by 2030 compared to 2021.

Shell has reaffirmed its ambition to produce net zero emissions by 2050.

(Reporting Ron Bousso; Gaëlle Sheehan, editing by Kate Entringer)

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