Climate campaigners stage protest at Shell Aberdeen office with washing machine and bath

A group of activists have held a protest using a green washing machine and bath outside of Shell’s Aberdeen office to “expose greenwashing”.

Activists from Extinction Rebellion Scotland stood outside Union Street at around 7.30am on Monday with a banner demanding that Shell end their “greenwashing and destructive climate policies”.

The group have accused Shell of ‘greenwashing’ through misleading adverts and also ditching plans to curb climate-changing emissions.

The action also comes after Shell was recently censured for greenwashing by advertising standards bodies in the UK and the Netherlands for misleading green campaigns.

The group said the company has a “notorious past of climate misinformation and denial, human rights abuses and pollution,” and claimed it was “rowing back” on previously announced carbon reduction targets.

XR said that in March 2024 Shell announced would target a 15-20% reduction in its net carbon intensity of its energy products by 2030. It had previously aimed for a 20% cut, and also scrapped its 2035 target.

Gary Jack from XR Highlands and Islands commented: “As someone who lives on a croft and is close to the land and the weather, I see first-hand the results of the decades of destruction companies like Shell have caused to our climate.

“Climate change is no longer a distant threat, it’s now a reality here in Scotland. In the North West Highlands we now experience wetter, stormier weather in the winter and higher temperatures in the summer which increases the likelihood of dry spells and wild fires.

“Shell could do so much good by focusing their power and finance to solving the climate crisis. Instead, they choose to make it worse. They will take us into a hell on earth just to make more profit.

“We have to transition away from fossil fuels towards clean renewable energy, to mitigate the catastrophic impacts that Shell is responsible for.”

Anne Campbell from XR Dundee added: “I was a midwife and everyday I thought about the future of the babies I helped deliver. Shell is helping to destroy their future and then gaslighting us with their greenwash.

“They spend millions on advertising campaigns trying to convince us that they are doing the right thing. They are not. It’s all lies as confirmed by advertising authorities in the UK and Netherlands.

“Shell’s greenwash can’t hide the truth that they are increasing emissions and making things worse. It breaks my heart for the babies I help bring into this world who are facing such a bleak future thanks to Shell.”

A Shell spokesperson said: “A small number of people are protesting outside our Aberdeen office.

“We respect the right to protest as long as it’s done safely.”