How Shell's oil and gas plans continue to worsen the climate crisis

Shell owns 700 new oil and gas fields and continues to search for even more. These findings come from our latest research in collaboration with Global Witness. Read more about the shocking results.

Here are the key findings

The research covers Shell's current oil and gas fields as of 9 April 2025. The title of this report is crystal clear: ‘Developing Disaster. How Shell continues to fuel the climate crisis.' Shell’s plans are a disaster in the making.

• Shell fully or partially owns a total of 1.196 oil and gas fields. Of these, 700 oil and gas fields (59%) are not yet in operation, and 496 (41%) are already in operation.
• If Shell stops drilling new oil and gas fields, it would prevent as much as 5.2 billion tonnes of CO₂ emissions. That is as much as 36 times the annual emissions of the whole of the Netherlands.
• If Shell goes ahead with new fields, this means that Shell's production branch's CO₂ emissions could increase by 4%* by 2030 (compared to 2022).
• If Shell fully exploits all its oil and gas fields (undeveloped and developed), this could cause up to 10.8 billion tons of CO₂ emissions. That is 1/4 of global CO₂ emissions.

Shell will not stop on its own

In May 2021, the court ruled for the first time that Shell has an obligation to reduce its CO₂ emissions. Since then, Shell has commissioned 32 new oil and gas fields. This is equivalent to almost 7 times the emissions of the Netherlands in 2024.

No room for new oil and gas development

The science is clear: for the future of our planet, each new oil or gas field is one too many. In fact, if the industry extracts all oil and gas from existing fields, we will already be well over the 1.5°C global warming limit. We can only prevent this if big polluters like Shell are no longer allowed to drill new oil and gas fields.  

The years leading up to 2030 are very important to limit global warming to 1.5°C and prevent dangerous climate change. In the coming years, the Netherlands and the rest of the world must rapidly reduce CO₂ emissions. As Shell continues to approve the development of new oil and gas assets, its associated CO₂ emissions will grow towards 2030.