Shell settles multimillion-dollar SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace

Greenpeace International and Greenpeace UK have agreed with Shell to settle the oil giant's multi-million US dollar intimidation lawsuit over a peaceful protest conducted by the campaign groups last year.

The settlement follows over a year of sustained campaigning by Greenpeace against Shell's lawsuit. Experts have described the case as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), a type of abusive lawsuit commonly brought by wealthy corporations to silence critics.

The Greenpeace defendants faced over $11 million USD in damages and legal costs as a result of the lawsuit. As part of the final settlement, they will accept no liability and pay no money to Shell, instead agreeing to donate £300,000 to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). 

They have also agreed to avoid protesting for a period at four Shell sites in the northern North Sea.[1] The sites in question are mostly declining fields where the Greenpeace defendants had no plans to take direct action. Greenpeace will continue to campaign against Shell including in the North Sea. 

Areeba Hamid, Co-Executive Director at Greenpeace UK, said: “Shell thought suing us for millions over a peaceful protest would intimidate us, but this case became a PR millstone tied around its neck. The public backlash against its bullying tactics made it back down and settle out of court.

“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.”

Shell's suit is one of several SLAPPs currently faced by Greenpeace around the world. Greenpeace in the USA and Greenpeace International are being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars by Energy Transfer, a US pipeline company, over the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016.[2] The case represents an existential threat to Greenpeace's presence in the US. Greenpeace Italy and Greenpeace Netherlands are also being sued by Italian oil major ENI.

Background on the case

Shell filed its lawsuit against Greenpeace UK, Greenpeace International and nine activists in February 2023, after activists peacefully occupied a moving Shell oil platform.[3] 

It initially threatened the claim could exceed $8 million USD (c.£6.5 million) in damages. Shell then offered to settle the damages claim if Greenpeace entities, including those not a party to the lawsuit, agreed not to take action at any Shell installation at sea or port, anywhere in the world, ever again. These demands were firmly rejected by Greenpeace.

In December 2023, in its court filing, Shell reduced its claim to $1 million USD (c£800,000). The suit remained one of the largest legal threats Greenpeace UK has faced in over fifty years of campaigning as a result of $10 million in legal costs Shell planned to recover from Greenpeace. Shell has already spent over $2.5 million on the case, which was still at a very early stage: no trial was expected to take place before 2026. 

Areeba Hamid added: “This is the absurd nature of SLAPP suits: even had we gone on to win the case, we could still have ended up worse off than by settling the case at this early stage. We are also very happy to offer a donation to our brave friends at RNLI, whose work protecting those at sea has only become more important as climate change supercharges storms around the world.”

Shell conceded that other than damaging a padlock (which the Greenpeace defendants denied), the activists caused no damage or delay to the platform during their 13-day occupation. Shell has justified the damages claim as resulting from steps allegedly taken to protect the safety of the activists. Greenpeace maintains the action was safe and carried out by experts; the real safety risk is Shell's emissions to the climate. 

Earlier this year, the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), a coalition of 118 prominent rights groups including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and PEN International certified Shell's lawsuit against Greenpeace as a SLAPP. In May 2024, the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition, a group of 31 organisations including Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Index on Censorship issued a statement in support of Greenpeace.[4]

Shell's lawsuit has mobilised significant public support, with Greenpeace UK's  ‘Stop Shell Appeal' raising over £1 million in donations in just nine months.[5] As of this week, over a quarter of a million people have signed an open letter to Shell CEO Wael Sawan calling on him to drop the case, with celebrities including Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Greta Thunberg and Benedict Cumberbatch also joining the campaign.[6] 

The case was dubbed the ‘Cousin Greg' lawsuit by Forbes after a scene in Emmy-winning drama Succession, in which a character threatens to sue Greenpeace. Series creator Jesse Armstrong backed Greenpeace's campaign, donating £25,000 to Greenpeace's legal fund.[7]

ENDS

Notes:

[1] The Greenpeace defendants have agreed not to travel within 500m of three Shell sites for a period of five years and one Shell site for a period of ten years. All of these sites are in the North Sea. Greenpeace is currently challenging the consent for Shell's Jackdaw gas rig at the High Court, with a ruling expected in the near year.

[2] Greenpeace in the USA and Greenpeace International are being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars by US pipeline company Energy Transfer (New York Times)

[3] Shell filed its lawsuit in February 2023 (BBC)

[4] Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe and PEN International certified Shell's lawsuit against Greenpeace as a SLAPP, and the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition issued a statement 

[5] Greenpeace UK's ‘Stop Shell Appeal' raised over £1 million in donations

[6] Celebrities' open letter accuses Shell of a ‘callous and vindictive' attack (Telegraph)

[7] The case was dubbed the ‘Cousin Greg' lawsuit by Forbes, and the Succession series creator Jesse Armstrong backed Greenpeace's campaign (Forbes)