Bernardus Cornelis Adriana Margriet "Ben" van Beurden (born 23 April 1958) is a Dutch businessman who was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Shell plc Shell plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and second ...

from 2014 to 2022. He joined Shell in 1983, after earning a master's degree in chemical engineering from

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

, Netherlands. During his tenure as head of Shell, the company was ordered by a Netherlands court to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. Despite the

scientific consensus on climate change There is a nearly unanimous scientific consensus that the Earth has been consistently warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution, that the rate of recent warming is largely unprecedented, and that this warming is mainly the result o ...

, Van Beurden described the ruling as "unreasonable" and said the company had no intentions to meet the court-ordered climate targets. In early2022,

ClientEarth ClientEarth is an environmental law charity, with offices in London, Brussels, Warsaw, Berlin, Beijing, Madrid and Los Angeles. It was founded in 2008 by James Thornton and the organisation's CEO is Laura Clarke. As lawyers and environmental expe ...

began

civil proceedings Civil law is a major "branch of the law", in common law legal systems such as those in England and Wales and in the United States, where it stands in contrast to criminal law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 19 ...

against vanBeurden and 12other directors of UKbased Shellplc in an attempt to hold these individuals personally responsible for failing to adequately prepare the company for a transition to

carbon neutrality Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

. More specifically ClientEarth asserts that these individuals have a

fiduciary duty A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust with one or more other parties (legal person or group of persons). Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person. One party, fo ...

under the UKCompanies Act to operate in accordance with the 2015

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

. Since January 2024, van Beurden has been a senior adviser at

KKR KKR may refer to: * KKR & Co., a global investment firm *Kolkata Knight Riders, an Indian Premier League franchise * Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Plant (), first nuclear power plant in the former East Germany * Kalkara, Malta, postal code KKR *Kir-Bala ...

, a US investment firm.

Career

Van Beurden's career at Shell spanned both upstream and downstream businesses. He held a number of operational and commercial roles including those in Chemicals and

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

. Van Beurden worked for Shell in a number of countries, including his native Netherlands, Turkey, Malaysia, United Kingdom and the United States. Van Beurden was an assistant to Shell chairman Phil Watts from 2002 to 2004, during which time Shell was embroiled in an accounting scandal where it had overstated its oil reserves. He held the post of Vice President for Manufacturing Excellence from January 2005 to December 2006. Van Beurden was the Executive Vice President Chemicals from December 2006 based out of London, during which time he was on the boards of a number of industry associations, including the

International Council of Chemical Associations The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) is the trade association of the global chemical industry. Its members are both regional trade associations like Cefic or the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, and also nati ...

and the

European Chemical Industry Council The European Chemical Industry Council or Cefic (from its former French name ''Conseil Européen des Fédérations de l'Industrie Chimique'') is the main European trade association for the chemical industry. It was founded in 1972. Its headquar ...

. He was the Director of Shell's Downstream business from January to September 2013. Lauded for his "deep knowledge of the industry and proven executive experience across a range of Shell businesses", Van Beurden is credited with turning around Shell's struggling chemicals division. From a loss-making enterprise in 2008, the Chemicals business now contributes 5 percent of net earnings. He also worked for a third of his 30-year Shell career in its

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

business, which has become a crucial driver of the group's growth. Van Beurden repeatedly called to environmental issues for governments and corporations to tackle

global energy consumption World energy supply and consumption refers to the global supply of World energy resources, energy resources and its Energy consumption, consumption. The system of global energy supply consists of the energy development, Refineries, refinement, a ...

beyond supply chains. In 2014 Van Beurden became the chief executive officer of Shell. In 2014, he was paid €24.2 million. In 2018, Van Beurden's compensation was approximately £17.2 million. Van Beurden was scheduled to retire from Shell at the end of 2022. In January 2023,

Wael Sawan Wael Sawan (Arabic: وائل صوان ; born 1974) is a Lebanese-Canadian business executive, and the CEO of Shell plc since January 2023. Early life and education Sawan was born in Beirut in 1974. He grew up in Dubai, and earned a master's de ...

succeeded him as CEO. During his tenure as head of Shell, the company was ordered by a Netherlands court to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. Van Beurden described the ruling as "unreasonable" and said the company had no intentions to meet the court-ordered climate targets. At the same time, Shell's profits were rising sharply, the company raised its dividend by almost 40%, and kickstarted share buybacks worth $2 billion. He is a member of the

European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table for Industry (previously known as the European Round Table of Industrialists), abbreviated ERT, is a cross-sectoral forum and advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 60 European industrial businesspeople wo ...

(ERT),Members

. and a board member of International Council of Chemicals Associations and the European Chemical Industry Council. In November 2022,

President of Kazakhstan The president of Kazakhstan, officially the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the executive head of state of the Kazakhstan and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As the highest-ranking official ...

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev (born 17 May 1953) is a Kazakhstani politician and diplomat who has served as the second president of Kazakhstan since 2019. He previously served as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002 ...

awarded van Beurden the Order of Dostyk II degree for his contribution to the oil and gas industry. van Beurden joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in January 2024 as a senior adviser. He is advising on the firm's global climate strategy in its infrastructure investment unit on a part-time basis.

Personal life

With his wife Stacey, he has three daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beurden, Ben van 1958 births Living people Dutch chief executives in the oil industry Chief Executive Officers of Shell plc Directors of Shell plc Delft University of Technology alumni People from Roosendaal Peterson Institute for International Economics