In Meaningless Act Of Greenwashing, Shell Leaves AFPM, But Still Member Of US Chamber, API

Citing differences over climate change, Royal Dutch Shell has pulled out of an industry trade group called the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers. Shell said that it was at odds with the refining and petrochemical group on the Paris climate agreement, carbon pricing, fuel mandates and the reduction of methane emissions.

But Shell decided to keep its membership in the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and seven other trade associations, despite what Shell called “some misalignment” between its views on climate policy and theirs. The company said it would try to change the positions of those groups. Shell’s decision to break with one influential trade association while justifying its decision to stick with others comes as shareholders and activists have ramped up pressure on major energy companies to lay out their approach to tackling climate change.

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Critics said, however, that Shell was not backing up its public positions in private. According to a public docket, a Shell official attended a session API held with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency on Nov. 18 to discuss “fugitive emissions,” a reference to methane that leaks from natural gas operations. Shell attended another meeting with API and the EPA in March 2018. Shell also met on its own with EPA officials Feb. 14 last year to discuss how the EPA could change emissions regulations if it were to integrate state standards, according to another EPA docket summarizing the meeting.

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In its review of trade groups, Shell also noted that it did not give funds to defeat a ballot initiative in Washington state in the fall that would have put a $15-per-ton tax on carbon emissions. The Western States Petroleum Association, which includes Shell, strongly opposed the carbon tax, and other members of the group poured millions of dollars into the fight to defeat it. But even though Shell has supported a nationwide carbon tax of $40 a ton, it did not support the Washington ballot measure, saying it was not the right mechanism. The position was intensely debated within Shell, sources said. Shell has chosen to remain in the WSPA.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/04/02/shell-quits-trade-group-over-climate-change-positions/?utm_term=.237d657b5403