Shell's new venture raises eyebrows with its climate tech façade

Shell has unveiled Onward, a startup it claims will propel the energy sector toward a greener future. However, critics argue it's a clever disguise for continuing oil and gas operations.

Molly Taft reports for The Guardian in partnership with Drilled.

In short:

Onward, backed by Shell, promises to connect innovators for tackling energy and climate challenges, yet focuses significantly on oil and gas projects.
Despite Shell's investment in low-carbon solutions, Onward's job board predominantly lists roles enhancing fossil fuel production.
Experts criticize these efforts as greenwashing, highlighting the contradiction between Shell's public climate commitments and its business practices.

Key quote:

"It’s a Trojan horse of legitimacy. You’re under cover of the idea that the climate movement is an all-hands-on-deck situation, but what you’re really doing is bringing in players who have very different ideas of what it means to ‘solve’ the climate crisis."

— Melissa Aronczyk, professor of journalism and media at Rutgers University.

Why this matters:

While Shell's Onward initiative presents a forward-thinking image, the focus on oil and gas raises concerns about the sincerity of such climate tech ventures, especially when global climate authorities call for a halt in fossil fuel exploration to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

Community advocates tasked with spending $5 million in fines from Shell’s industrial air pollution are determined not to let the oil company take credit for the projects.

www.theguardian.com

Credit: Pierre Lemos / Unsplash+

Toxic chemicals and climate change work together to harm fertility across species

In a recent review published in NPJ Emerging Contaminants, researchers examine how toxic chemicals can reduce fertility in both humans and wildlife, and how these effects are worsened by climate change.

In short:

Animals - including insects, fish, reptiles, birds, humans, and other mammals - are constantly simultaneously exposed to synthetic chemicals and the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures.
Both of these stressors can harm fertility, and many of the impacts found are similar across species, such as effects on sperm and eggs.
The stress caused by these exposures also impacts overall health, harming animals’ ability to adapt to a changing environment and worsening global biodiversity loss.

Key quote:

“To build a sustainable future, we must recognize that chemicals, once released, don’t simply disappear. Instead, they contribute to the larger issue of driving humanity towards the exceedance of planetary boundaries when considered in combination with climate change and other planetary-level impacts.”

Why this matters:

While climate change and toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are both individually well-established as health threats, few studies have examined the implications of the widespread simultaneous exposure experienced by humans and wildlife. Many EDCs can also impact health across multiple generations, meaning their harm continues long after the original exposure. To better tackle the issue of EDCs, the authors of this study emphasize the need for strong regulations that address chemicals by class, rather than individually.

Related EHN coverage:

Declining PFAS levels in seabird eggs reflect impact of regulatory action
Op-ed: A stalled global plastic treaty threatens our future fertility (written by two of the lead authors of the above study)

More resources:

ChemTrust: Wildlife and the environment – Endocrine disruptors
Stockholm Resilience Center: Planetary Boundaries: The safe operating space for humanity

Brander, S. et al. (2026). Impacts of environmental stressors on fertility and fecundity across taxa, with implications for planetary health. NPJ Emerging Contaminants.

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Shell's new venture raises eyebrows with its climate tech façade

Toxic chemicals and climate change work together to harm fertility across species

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