Shell pays CEO $8mln while watering down carbon emissions targets

Shell PLC revealed the size of chief executive Wael Sawan's pay package in his first year while noting that it has watered down its carbon emissions targets for the rest of the decade.

Sawan received a total of £7.9 million after becoming boss of the oil firm early last year, including an annual bonus of £2.7 million and a basic salary of £1.4 million.

This was from the oil supermajor's annual report out this morning, and compares to previous boss Ben van Beurden's £9.7 million pay in 2022.

Shell's pre-tax profit in 2023 came in at $32.6 billion (£25.5 billion), one of its most profitable years thanks to continued high oil and gas prices, though roughly half the record level from the year before.

Shell also announced a revised target of a 15-20% reduction in carbon intensity from its energy products sold in 2030 versus a 2016 baseline, compared to a target of 20% by 2030 and 45% by 2035 in its 2021 energy transition strategy report.

Shell said it aims to halve emissions from its direct operations (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) by 2030, compared with 2016 on a net basis.

By the end of last year, it said more than 60% of this target had been achieved.

To help drive the decarbonisation of the transport sector, Shell has set a new "ambition" to reduce customer emissions from the use of its oil products by 15-20% by 2030 compared with 2021, and said it still intends to invest $10-15 billion in low-carbon energy between 2023 and the end of 2025.

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