Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden will step down from his role at the end of 2022 and will be replaced by Wael Sawan, effective from 1 January 2023.
Sawan is the Director Integrated Gas, Renewables and Energy Solutions and was previously the Director Upstream.
He is based in the Hague, in the Netherlands, and has been a member of Shell’s Executive Committee (EC) for three years.
Sawan (pictured) will join the Board of Directors when he takes on his new role.
Van Beurden will continue working as adviser to the Board until 30 June 2023, after which he will leave the group.
Shell’s Chair, Andrew Mackenzie, said: “Ben can look back with great pride on an extraordinary 39-year Shell career, culminating in nine years as an exceptional CEO.
“During the last decade, he has been in the vanguard for the transition of Shell to a net zero emissions energy business by 2050 and has become a leading industry voice on some of the most important issues affecting society.”
Mackenzie said van Beurden leaves Shell a “financially strong and profitable company with a robust balance sheet, very strong cash generation capability and a compelling set of options for growth”.
“He took firm, decisive action to marshal the company through the global pandemic, seizing the opportunity for a major reset to ensure we emerged fitter, stronger and equipped to succeed in the energy transition.
“Powering Progress, Shell’s detailed strategy to accelerate our profitable transition to a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, was unveiled in February 2021 and was quickly followed by moves to simplify both our organisational and share structures. Ben’s legacy will frame Shell’s success for decades to come.”
Mackenzie called Sawan an “exceptional leader, with all the qualities needed to drive Shell safely and profitably through its next phase of transition and growth”.
In response to Shell announcing that their next CEO will be Wael Sawan, Charlie Kronick, climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said the only “meaningful way” to judge the appointment of a new CEO at Shell is to look at his “quantifiable objectives for the company’s future and his delivery on those objectives”.
“To represent the change we need to see, he must clearly state that Shell will cut its absolute carbon emissions by 50% – including those of their customers in the next decade’ said Kronick adding “And he [Sawan] must state that Shell will massively shift capital expenditure to renewable energy in the short term.
“Without those clear commitments, Shell will continue to make the climate emergency even worse and remain part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
Sophie Lund-Yates, Lead Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, referred to Sawan’s current role as head of the group’s integrated gas and renewables division.
She said: “For a group whose renewable strategy has been somewhat vague, though grand sounding, this is a clear marker that Shell intends to change this.
“Change won’t happen overnight, but it’s reasonable to think that at least tweaks to the existing renewable strategy could be on the cards.
“Investors will be looking to assurances on dividend security and renewable strategy first and foremost, and in that order.”