Ben van Beurden

Bernardus Cornelis Adriana Margriet "Ben" van Beurden (born 23 April 1958) is a Dutch businessman who was the CEO of Shell plc from 2014 to 2022. He joined Shell in 1983, after earning a master's degree in chemical engineering from Delft University of Technology, 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, Van Beurden described the ruling as "unreasonable" and said the company had no intentions to meet the court-ordered climate targets. In early‑2022, ClientEarth began civil proceedings against van Beurden and 12 other directors of UK‑based Shell plc in an attempt to hold these individuals personally responsible for failing to adequately prepare the company for a transition to carbon neutrality. More specifically ClientEarth asserts that these individuals have a fiduciary duty under the UK Companies Act to operate in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement. Since January 2024, van Beurden has been a senior adviser at KKR, a US investment firm. 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. Van Beurden worked for Shell in a number of countries, including his native Netherlands, Turkey, Malaysia, United Kingdom and the United States.