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LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell set a
new target for its direct operational greenhouse gas emissions
on Thursday, reporting third-quarter profit down 25% to $4.13
billion from the previous quarter, below expectations.
Shell said it would cut absolute emissions from its
operations and the electricity it uses, known as Scope 1 and 2,
by half by 2030 compared with 2016.
Shell has pledged to become a net zero emissions company by
2050, but has come under pressure to do more faster when a Dutch
court ordered it to cut all of its emissions, including from the
combustion of its products by customers, or Scope 3, by 45% by
2030.
Shell had previously set a target to cut the carbon
intensity of its products, meaning emissions by unit of energy
produced rather than in absolute terms, by at least 6% by 2023,
by 20% by 2030, by 45% by 2035 and by 100% by 2050 compared to
2016 levels.
As flagged, Shell will distribute $7 billion to its
shareholders from next year after a $9.5 billion deal to sell
its U.S. Permian assets to ConocoPhillips closes.
Its third-quarter adjusted earnings came in below an average
analyst forecast provided by the company for a $5.31 billion
profit. That compares with earnings of $5.53 billion in the
previous quarter and $955 million a year ago.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; editing by Jason Neely)