Clearing the Air: Ensuring Long Term Value to Shell by Addressing Climate Change and Pricing Carbon, Carbon Pricing mini-series one of three

Shell recognizes the importance of broadening the frame of the energy and climate change discussion. There needs to be substantial additional amounts of energy to meet growing population levels and increasing standards of living worldwide. At the same time, we recognize the need to reduce CO2. Energy is fundamental to our civilization. Much of the world's population enjoys abundant and affordable energy. But three billion do not. Providing them with the energy they need to improve their quality of life whilst reducing the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is an important challenge to address.

Strong and stable carbon pricing is an essential step to tackle the rising level of CO2 in the atmosphere. The RDS Chairman was present in New York during the recent UN Climate Summit and we were pleased to support the World Bank's statement on carbon pricing. CCS fitted to power plants, could be a real game-changer, removing up to 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from power generation. CCS is critical to address climate change because it is the only technology that tackles the absolute level of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Other technologies improve efficiency and help to slow down the rate, but not the total volume of CO₂ in the atmosphere.