Shell offsetting carbon in Scottish forest is 'greenwashing', Government official warned

The Glengarry forest is to be restored close to Loch Garry, pictured, in the Scottish Highlands
The Glengarry forest is to be restored close to Loch Garry, pictured, in the Scottish Highlands

Shell’s plan to use Scottish forests for carbon offsetting is “greenwashing”, Government officials warned before accepting £5million for the scheme to go ahead.

The team at Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) said that the money was “small beer” for the oil giant and said that they were at risk being “worked over by Shell’s formidable PR machinery”.

In emails released under Freedom of Information laws,Jo Ellis, Head of Planning and Environment at the agency, said that she did not “want us to come across as falling for the greenwashing” and planting “will not be sufficient to offset carbon emissions for the long term”.

But the partnership to establish a million trees went ahead anyway and was announced in October last year as part of a plan by Shell to offset emissions from customers at their petrol stations across the UK.

It comes amid concern from environmentalists the offsetting could be doing more harm than good as people wrongly believe that they are having a positive impact.

The five year contract between Shell and FLS is to provide 250,000 carbon units by restoring forests and peatland.

Emails between the company and the Scottish Government agency show that they agreed to do so in way that “provides opportunities for positive public communications”

The plan is to plant two hundred hectares of native woodland at Glengarry in Lochaber over the next two years, but it has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The third, fourth and fifth year of the partnership will involve restoring native woodland or peatland at sites to be decided.

The original planned site, Nether Horsburgh, had to be changed as FLS realised that they had already planted all the trees and therefore could not retrospectively sell carbon credits.

The project was announced in October alongside a press release in which Shell claimed that they would be “the first retailer to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from customers’ petrol and diesel purchases” at its UK petrol stations.

But internal emails, released after an FOI by investigative website The Ferret, show that FLS had reservations about the claims.

In August 2019 Ms Ellis said that she was “excited” about the money that it would bring in, but warned: “I don’t want us to come across as falling for the greenwashing.

“The fact remains that mitigation work such as tree planting will not be sufficient to offset carbon emissions for the long term (we need to be reducing the use of fossil fuels) and the tiny amount Shell is putting into green initiatives is dwarfed by what it is still spending on investigating new oil and gas reserves, and in blocking initiatives to set legally binding emissions reductions targets.”

Trefor Owen, the Director of Land Management, responded that they needed to get their “lines straight” as “what Shell are offering us is relatively small beer for them, but it gets a shiny new organisation (us) to add to the list of 'green organisations’ supporting their offsetting ambitions.”

In September 2019 Ms Ellis again raised the issue, saying: “Personally I would have a problem with them saying anything that implies that this is going to make what they do environmentally friendly. This is all about reducing the harm that they do, not about them doing good.”

A month later the project was announced and a LinkedIn post by Shell described offsets as “a vital part of tackling climate change” and something that allowed people to have a “positive impact”.

Shell have denied that they were involved in greenwashing and said that they have “invested billions” in low carbon technologies.

A spokesperson said: “We agree that action is needed now on climate change, so we fully support the Paris Agreement and the need for society to transition to a lower-carbon future. We’re committed to playing our part, by addressing our own emissions and helping customers to reduce theirs.”

Simon Hodgson, FLS Chief Executive, said that he valued “the free and frank exchange of views amongst staff” but in the “long haul” of reducing carbon emissions “partnership working is essential”.

“No one has the perfect, complete solution for the whole problem of tackling climate change but there are many smaller steps, including enabling more people and organisations to help us plant more trees in Scotland, that can be taken towards arriving at that solution. This is one of them for Forestry and Land Scotland,” he said.

It is the second time that the Scottish Government has taken an investment from a major oil company to plant trees, after a £10million donation from BP in 2009.

Emails show that FLS discussed the potential for other carbon offsetting projects on land that they own.

Mel Evans, senior climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: "Tree planting is crucial to fighting climate change, but Shell’s offsetting is merely a hollow gesture while it continues to invest heavily in fossil fuels - actively making the climate emergency worse.

“Companies like Shell, BP, airlines and other high carbon pollution-creating industries want to use offsetting to continue business as usual, and that is a con. We can’t ignore the reality – we must cut carbon emissions, not accept false remedies like offsetting.”