Pressure is mounting on the UK government to end all new oil and gas exploration and extraction licenses in the North Sea, following the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) landmark warning last month that further investments in new fossil fuel supplies must end this year if the chances of limiting global warming to 1.5°C are to be kept alive.  A letter from 50 campaign groups urges the government to heed the IEA’s advice that growing fossil fuel supply is incompatible with a 1.5˚C world and that it must end new North Sea fossil fuel licensing in order to meet net zero.   BusinessGreen (paywall)

Separately a “Black Wednesday’ hit big oil as courtrooms and boardrooms turned on industry.  In a “cataclysmic day” for Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, investors rebelled over climate fears and a court ordered fossil fuel emissions to be slashed, sparking hope among campaigners, investors, lawyers and academics who said the historic decisions marked a turning point in efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Click here, here and here.

A court in the Netherlands ruled in a landmark case that Shell must cut its emissions by 45% by 2030– compared to 1990 levels.  Click here.

US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron suffered shareholder rebellions from climate activists and disgruntled institutional investors over their failure to set a strategy for a low-carbon future.  Exxon failed to defend its board against a coup launched by dissident hedge fund activists which successfully replaced two board members with its own candidates to help drive the oil company towards a greener strategy. Click here and here.