* Investors managing $7.9 trillion in assets want targets
* Shell says targets will limit its ability to adapt
* Investors reject shareholder resolution on climate(Adds resolution vote, details)
By Ron Bousso
THE HAGUE, May 22 (Reuters) - Top investors in Royal DutchShell on Tuesday put pressure on the oil and gas giantto commit to hard targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions tobattle climate change.
Shell has set out "ambitions" to halve carbon emissions by2050 and expand in renewables, goals Chief Executive Officer Benvan Beurden said were ground breaking for the oil industry.
But he clashed with shareholders who had pushed climate tothe forefront of the annual general meeting (AGM) and demandedShell give specifics on how it would turn promises into action.However, a motion that proposed setting targets was defeated.
"Nobody else comes close, it is seriously ambitious," vanBeurden told investors when explaining Shell's plans at the AGM.
But a growing number of major shareholders, who praisedShell's overall plans, urged the Anglo-Dutch company to committo firm targets to reduce carbon emissions from its oil and gasproduction, as well as from fuels it sells around the world.
"We call for this ambition to be translated into firm mediumand short term targets, aligned with the Paris Agreement," agroup of 27 investors managing $7.9 trillion in assets said in astatement read at the AGM.
The group includes HSBC, BMO Capital Markets, AXA and UBS.
Shell's board has urged shareholders to vote against aresolution brought forward for a vote at the AGM by activistgroup Follow This that called on Shell to set targets to reduceemissions and meet the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement goal thataims to limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius.
The resolution was rejected by a majority of 95 percent.
The previous two climate resolutions tabled by Follow Thisin 2016 and 2017 secured support of 2.8 percent and 6.3 percentof the votes, respectively.
Van Beurden said that setting targets would hamper Shell'sefforts to adapt to the transition going on in energy.
He rejected accusations by Follow This founder Mark van Baalthat Shell's plans fell short of the Paris agreement goals."The reputation of our company is irrevocably linked totargets," the chief executive said. "Nobody can see how theenergy transition will play out over this period."
Although the Follow This motion was defeated, van Baal saidcompanies were under more pressure to set clear goals.
"There is a very clear signal that investors want targets,not ambitions," he told reporters, adding that "the oil industrycan make or break the Paris climate agreement."
Last week, a group of 60 global investors urged companies todo more to reduce emissions and become more transparent abouttheir plans.
Shell announced last year an ambition to slash emissions ofgreenhouse gases by 20 percent by 2035 and by half by 2050. Thetargets include Shell's operations and emissions from consumersof its products.
Producing and burning of oil and gas account for around 50percent of global carbon emissions.
At the AGM, shareholders also approved management's 2017remuneration, including van Beurden's 8.9 million euro package,by an unusually small majority of 75 percent.
(Reporting by Ron BoussoEditing by Jason Neely and Edmund Blair)
