Shell and Greenpeace settle legal action over ship protest
The environmental group will make a £300,000 donation to the RNLI without accepting liability or paying money to Shell.
Greenpeace and Shell have settled a High Court case brought by the oil and gas giant after protesters boarded a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
In January 2023 four demonstrators from the environmental campaign group boarded the White Marlin, a heavy-load ship carrying a floating oil and gas platform, as it travelled near the Canary Islands.
Shell brought legal action and was granted two injunctions the following month at the High Court in London, with the fuel giant later seeking its costs and permanent injunctions preventing further access.
On Tuesday both Shell and Greenpeace announced a settlement had been agreed, with the environmental group making a £300,000 donation to the RNLI without accepting liability or paying money to Shell.
As well as the donation, Greenpeace has agreed that the demonstrators will not go within 500 metres of three Shell North Sea sites for five years, and a fourth site for 10 years.
Areeba Hamid, co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said: “This settlement shows that people power works.
“Thousands of ordinary people across the country backed our fight against Shell and their support means we stay independent and can keep holding Big Oil to account.
“We’ve ensured not a penny of our supporters’ money will go to Shell and all funds raised will be used to continue campaigning against the fossil fuel industry and other big polluters.
“This legal battle might be over, but Big Oil’s dirty tricks aren’t going away.
“With Greenpeace facing further legal battles around the world, we won’t stop campaigning until the fossil fuel industry stops drilling and starts paying for the damage it is causing to people and planet.”
In a statement, Shell described the ship’s boarding as “a serious risk to safety and life”.
The statement continued: “Shell is pleased that the dispute has been settled and that a payment in lieu of the costs it incurred can benefit a charity working on safety at sea.
“For Shell, the right to protest is fundamental and has never been at issue.
“Instead, this case was about an illegal boarding by protesters which a High Court judge described as ‘putting their lives and, indirectly, the lives of the crew at risk’.”
