An ex-boss of Shell has been paid almost £10m by the oil giant. The cost of living crisis means that millions are struggling to heat their homes, but Ben Van Beurden was paid £9.7 million last year.
The vast pay packet is over £ 3 million more than in 2021. The year before last, the Dutchman took home a total remuneration of £6.3 million.
According to Shell's annual report, his bonus rose from £2.2million in 2021 to £2.6million in 2022. Last month, the London-listed oil giant reported record profits of £32.2billion for 2022, double the previous year's total, reports MirrorOnline.
The announcement was met with fury and outrage due to the UK’s ongoing cost of living crisis which has been driven largely by soaring energy bills. Some have also accused Shell, and other energy suppliers of profiteering off the war in Ukraine.
The news of this pay packet will likely cause even more anger. When announcing the results, Shell said it demonstrated the "strength of Shell's differentiated portfolio" as well as its "capacity to deliver vital energy to customers in a volatile world".
According to Global Witness, it would take an average UK worker 294 years to earn the same pay as Van Beurden.
Alice Harrison, fossil fuels campaign leader at Global Witness, said: “Shell’s CEO earnt in one year what a typical UK worker would earn in six lifetimes. Surely most of us can agree that one person shouldn’t be able to amass such huge wealth on the back of fossil-fuel funded war in Ukraine and a global energy crisis?
“It’s a sign of just how broken our energy system is that Shell and other fossil fuel companies have made record-breaking profits from an energy crisis that’s forcing families to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table."
Global Witness called for a “people-first windfall tax” that includes executive bonuses in Jeremy Hunt’s UK budget next week. After almost a decade in post, Van Beurden formally announced in September last year that he would be leaving the group.
He was replaced on January 1 this year by Wael Sawan, the former head of Shell's gas and renewables business. The annual report said Sawan was appointed on a salary of £1.4m, which was the same as Van Beurden's salary in 2022.
