Shell sets carbon cutting targets after investor pressure

* Shell, investors make joint statement on targets

* Shell to link short-term targets to executive pay

* CEO van Beurden had called targets 'foolhardy'

By Ron Bousso

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell cavedin to growing investor pressure over climate change on Mondaywith plans to set short-term targets for reducing its carbonfootprint.

BP and Total have already set short-termtargets, but Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden hadpreviously resisted setting hard goals, saying it would be"foolhardy" to expose Shell to legal challenges.

But following discussions with investors, the Anglo-Dutchoil and gas giant said that from 2020 it will set three- tofive-year targets every year which will include specific netcarbon footprint targets.

Shareholders had criticised Shell for last year settinglong-term "ambitions" to halve its emissions of carbon dioxideby 2050, which lacked binding targets for implementation.

Shell, which did not specify any targets on Monday, plans tolink these targets and other measures to its executiveremuneration policy. The revised remuneration policy will be putto shareholders for approval at its annual meeting in 2020.

"We are taking important steps towards turning our NetCarbon Footprint ambition into reality by setting shorter-termtargets," Ben van Beurden said in a statement.

The move comes as governments meet in Poland for aconference hosted by the United Nations COP24 which will lay outa "rule book" to implement a 2015 climate accord.

The Paris agreement set goals to phase out fossil fuel usethis century, shift towards cleaner energies and help limit arise in temperatures.

Shell signed a joint statement with a group of 310 investorswith over $32 trillion of assets under management, dubbedClimate Action 100+, outlining the targets and review process.

"When it comes to meeting the demands of the Paris Agreementon climate change, we believe it is necessary to strengthenpartnerships between investors and their investee companies toaccelerate progress towards reaching such an ambitious commongoal," Peter Ferket, Chief Investment Officer of Robeco said inthe joint statement.(Reporting by Ron BoussoEditing by Alexander Smith)