Shell calls on industry to speak on warming

Realizes it was a mistake to ‘keep a low profile’

LONDON/CHICAGO • Royal Dutch Shell PLC will call on the oil industry to speak up about ways to curb global warming, a shift that suggests executives fear losing ground in the debate to environmental groups.

“In the past we thought it was better to keep a low profile on the issue,” chief executive Ben Van Beurden said in remarks prepared for a conference Thursday in London. “It’s not a good tactic. We have to make sure that our voice is heard by members of government, by civil society and the general public.”

U.S. competitors led by Exxon Mobil Corp. have acknowledged climate change is a problem while avoiding specific policy recommendations. As institutions such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Stanford University divest fossil fuel holdings and nations worked toward a deal limiting emissions, energy producers must inject “realism and practicality” into the debate, according to Mr. Van Beurden’s remarks.

While Shell, along with BP PLC, have led the oil industry in acknowledging climate change as a risk, the producers have avoided forums such as the annual United Nations climate talks. Shell, based in The Hague, has backed solutions such as carbon trading and the development of technology to capture carbon emissions and store them underground as a way to pare back pollution.

“Our industry should be less aloof, more assertive,” according to Mr. Van Beurden’s remarks.

Environmental groups have dominated the debate over how to shape global warming policy, according to Mr. Van Beurden’s remarks. That has boosted solutions such as emissions targets over policies that encourage investors to back technologies to cut pollution. In Germany, carbon dioxide emissions have jumped because utilities are using more coal plants to back up power from the country’s rapidly expanding wind- and solar-power industry.

“I’m well aware that the industry’s credibility is an issue,” according to Mr. Van Beurden’s remarks. “To make our voice heard, our sector needs to enter into the public debate alongside other credible parties — ranging from academics to non-governmental organizations and policy-makers.”