Shell

Shell "should have been more assertive" in its warnings about climate change, Ben van Beurden, CEO of the Dutch oil and gas giant said in a podcast by Studio Energie. Environmental group Milieudefensie recently filed a lawsuit against Shell for the role it played in the climate problems the world currently faces. 

Environmental organization Milieudefensie is filing a lawsuit against Shell in an effort to force the Dutch oil and gas company to adjust its policy to prevent further damage to the climate, Milieudefensie announced in a press conference at Shell's former headquarters in Amsterdam, ANP reports.

With the opening of its first fast charging station for electric cars, Dutch oil giant Shell is now also a player in the electric vehicle market. Fastned, a company that already opened 63 fast charging stations in the Netherlands, believes that shell is being favored and is therefore taking the company to court, NOS reports.

"It starts with Shell simply selling electricity on the permit they have to sell fuel", Fastned CEO Michiel Langezaal said to the broadcaster. "We find that strange. We as electricity provider can't just sell gasoline. We're going to court."

Shell is expanding its range of electric car charging points with the acquisition of NewMotion. The Amsterdam based company is one of Europe's largest players in the field of charging stations. The amount involved in the acquisition was not disclosed, ANP reports.

NewMotion has over 30 thousand charging points at individuals' homes and companies in the Netherlands, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The company also issued more than 100 thousand charging passes, which gives customers access to around 50 thousand charging points in 25 European countries. 

Jos van Winsen, director of the Shell refinery in Pernis, Rotterdam, offered his apologies on Tuesday for two major incidents at the refinery over the past days. "We are extremely sorry, this is not what we are", Van Winsen said to RTV Rijnmond.

Shell may scrap around 400 jobs in the Netherlands, mainly in the Projects & Technology division in Amsterdam and Rijswijk, the oil and gas giant confirmed on Monday. This round of layoffs will be part of measures taken in the last quarter of this year, ANP reports.

Some of the affected employees may be able to continue working in another division at Shell. The precise impact is not yet clear and it still has to be discussed with the central works council and trade unions, the company emphasized.

Shell shareholders turned down an activist proposal urging the company to commit to the Paris Climate Agreement at the shareholders meeting in Scheveningen on Tuesday, were climate strategy was the main topic. This outcome meant that concrete action or measurable quotas are not deemed necessary by Shell shareholders in order to reduce emission. 

Before the end of the year Shell plans to equip 20 of its petrol stations in the Netherlands with rapid car charging points. In this way the Dutch oil and gas giant wants to provide for a growing need - the number of electric cars in the Netherlands is increasing rapidly, ANP reports.

The top executives of companies listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange AEX earned an average of 5 million euros last year, about 1 percent more than the year before, according to an analysis done by the Volkskrant. 

More than half of the 400 chemical- and other companies with a large risk factor in the Netherlands violated safety rules over the past two decades, the Volkskrant reports based on a survey of inspection reports. Over a fifth of the cases involved a medium to serious violation, according to the newspaper.

Shell is teaming up with energy company Eneco and offshore company Van Oord to build a massive wind farm off the shore of Borssele in Zeeland .The wind farm will consist of about 100 windmills and will generate enough energy to supply a million households, AD reports.