Shell just made £6.2bn in quarterly profit. Here’s how that money could be better spent

Oil and gas giant Shell has unveiled eye-watering ‘better than expected’ profits for the first quarter of this year.

The fossil-fuel company has announced earnings of £6.2bn in Q1. Luckily, it’s putting the money to a good cause: lining shareholder pockets.

According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, Shell spent £11 transferring cash to shareholders through buybacks and dividends for every £1 it spent on renewable energy.

But £6.2bn could make a huge dent in climate action. Here’s how you could put some of this money to a good cause.

Electrify around one fifth of the UK rail network

If the UK is to meet its net zero commitments, it must electrify some 13,000km by 2050 –  around 448km of rail per year.

According to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, It costs around £2m to electrify a kilometre of track. So Shell’s profits could electrify 3,000 km of the UK network.

It wouldn’t finish the job, but it would be a good start: in 2022, just 2.2km of track was electrified.

Put solar panels on 1.13 million British homes

Solar panels can help bring down your bills – by generating energy yourself, you don’t need to rely on the expensive national grid.

The Energy Saving Trust estimates that a typical household with a 3.5 kilowatt-peak system – the average solar system installed by UK houses – can reduce its energy bills by anywhere between £190 and £465 per year.

But high installation costs – roughly £5,500 for the average photo-voltaic system – put many people off. With Shell’s profits, we could rig up such systems for 1.13 million British homes.

Or insulate 480,000 British homes

The UK has some of the least insulated homes in Europe, with 28.6 million homes losing heat up to three times faster than the continent.

Greenmatch estimates that home insulation costs – complete with cavity walls, under floors and roof or loft – are £12,930 for a standard 3-bedroom semi-detached home in the UK. With Shell’s annual profits, you could insulate nearly half a million of our country’s draughty homes.

Remove 1.55 billion kilograms of plastic from the ocean

The ocean is filled with some 200 billion kilograms of plastic debris, with devastating consequences for wildlife. Some 90% of world’s seabirds have plastic in their guts.

Companies like the Ocean Cleanup – which uses tech to cut down on plastic pollution – are endeavouring to put a dent in this massive total. Their feasibility study suggests that a full fleet of 100km of these floating barriers was deployed at a cost of US$372.73m, collecting plastic at around US$5.32 (£4.26) per kilogram.

So Shell’s most recent profit margin could remove 1.55 billion kilograms of the hardy material from the sea.

Build 60 million robo-bees

The world’s bee population is in dramatic decline, as habitat loss, insecticides and changing temperatures take their toll on the vital pollinators.

In the face of this catastrophe, researchers are coming up with novel solutions. Researchers in Japan have built a $100 match-box sized drone that can pick up pollen from one flower and deposit it in another.

You could build 60 million of these drones with Shell’s profits – but it’s worth noting, the money would probably be far better spent on preserving existing bee populations.

Buy 6.8 million Taylor Swift tickets

This isn’t much to do with the planet. But if Shell were feeling particularly benevolent towards Swifties, they could buy 6.8 million fans tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, where seats will set you back an average £870 per head.