Oil Giant Shell Cuts Ties With U.S. Lobby Group Over Climate Change

LONDON (CBSDFW.COM/CNN) - Royal Dutch Shell says it's quitting a major U.S. oil lobby because it disagrees with the group's policies on climate change.

The energy company said Tuesday that it would not renew its membership in the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers lobby next year because of "material misalignment."

Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden wrote in a report that "The need for urgent action in response to climate change has become ever more obvious since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. As a result, society's expectations in this area have changed, and Shell's views have also evolved."

The company said it's important that the industry associations they belong to don't "undermine our support for the Paris Agreement."

Almost every country has signed up to the 2015 Paris Agreement, pledging to limit the rise in temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius. The United States decided to withdraw from the agreement in 2017.

Shell said it had reviewed the climate policies of 19 major industry groups to which it belongs. It found no issues with nine of them, and "some misalignment" with another nine.

It has decided to leave only the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers group, where it has served as a member of the board. The lobby group has not publicly supported the Paris accord.

The lobby has also stated its opposition to carbon pricing, something that Shell has advocated in the United States. And it challenged the EPA's Clean Power Plan in 2015, without Shell's support.

American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers said in a statement on Tuesday that it "wished [Shell] all the best in the future."

The lobby added that it would continue working "to advance policies that ensure reliable and affordable access to fuels and petrochemicals, while being responsible stewards of the environment."

Shell agreed last year after coming under pressure from shareholders to link executive pay to emission reduction targets starting in 2020, an industry first.

However, the company faces a lawsuit from climate activists who are demanding it quit oil altogether.

(The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company contributed to this report. All rights reserved.)