High performance, lower emissions* with Shell Helix Ultra

Our Carbon Neutral Aspiration

At Shell Helix we want to help drive a more sustainable future by reducing our carbon footprint. We are committed to providing lower-carbon alternatives to the products that we offer. 

Lubricants play a vital role in keeping the world moving. As the world’s need for mobility increases, so too will the demand for lubricants.¹ And there is a need to balance this increase in demand with the environmental impact of lubricants. As part of Shell Lubricants, we understand that our customers expect brands to offer sustainable products and services and make it easier for them to make sustainable choices.² Motorists and vehicle manufacturers want lower-carbon alternatives for their current and future mobility needs.

Shell is the biggest supplier of lubricants in the world.³ Shell Lubricants focuses on delivering products designed to achieve efficiencies in technologies with moving metal parts, helping achieve fuel economies in passenger and commercial vehicles.

To achieve this, we are focused on two strategic initiatives:

• Reducing the CO₂e intensity of our own products.
• Helping customers manage their sustainability needs.

Avoid

We avoid emissions by improving the energy efficiency of our facilities and increasing the use of certified renewable electricity to help reduce the CO₂e emissions of our supply chain.

Reduce

We reduce emissions by optimising the efficiency of our production processes and product designs and by aiming to embed circular economy thinking at the heart of our lubricants business. By designing products with reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and less packaging (e.g. by providing bigger, re-usable packaging, encouraging customers to buy bulk and transporting products using LNG trucks) we aim to keep products and materials in use for longer.

Offset

Until avoid and reduce measures can be deployed at scale, we use carbon offsetting to help compensate for the remaining emissions of our premium products. This is done through the use of Shell’s nature-based solutions programme.

Ecosystems like forests, grasslands or wetlands naturally remove CO₂ from the atmosphere every year. Nature-based solutions are projects which protect, transform or restore these ecosystems so they can store even more CO₂ emissions. These activities can also lead to the creation of carbon credits, where each credit represents the avoidance or removal of greenhouse gases equivalent to one tonne of CO₂.

How we offset the remaining emissions

While avoid and reduce measures offer the best way to tackle emissions in the long term, until scalable solutions are deployed, carbon offsetting programs provide an immediate solution to reduce GHG emissions. Shell wants to offer a worldwide portfolio of carbon neutral⁴ lubricants for a wide variety of applications spanning both personal and commercial use. To support this effort, Shell Helix is working to offset the emissions of every litre of premium lubricant across premium passenger car motor oil.

Shell’s globally diverse, externally-verified, and high-quality, nature-based carbon credits⁵ will balance the CO₂e emissions from the lifecycle of the products including the raw materials, packaging, production, distribution, customer use and product end of life. Each carbon credit represents the avoidance or removal of one tonne of CO₂e.

Helping customers manage their sustainability needs

We help customers set and meet CO₂e emissions goals by providing premium products and cutting-edge technology to help maximise performance and processes.

Carbon Neutral Oil offers the same, high performance technology but with lower emissions and better fuel economy in any car.*

*Based on CO₂ equivalent avoided per 1l fuel saved, not combusted in the engine. Higher fuel economy based on ACEA M111 fuel economy results compared with the industry reference oil.

More information and associated documentation

Our carbon neutrality calculations are performed through an internal carbon footprint model by Shell. An independent, accredited verification body has subjected the model, which is a source of key parameters and methodologies for carbon intensity calculations on a product level, to a critical review against the international standard ISO 14040/44. For the purpose of this task, a review panel was formed involving external independent industry experts.

¹Global Lubricants: Market Analysis and Assessment Report 2019, Kline.

²Customers and consumers are increasingly expecting brands to offer sustainable products and services as a table-stake, with 74% globally citing environmental concerns. Consumers want brands to make it easier for them to make sustainable choices (43%), Project Maximus, Shell Insights + Kantar, Nov 2019

³Kline &Co.

⁴In the context of this document, terms ‘Net Zero Carbon’ and ‘Carbon Neutral’ are used interchangeably and reflect how Shell Lubricants are branded in different regions. There is no difference in the approach undertaken by Shell to ensure that the CO2e footprint of these products is net zero.

⁵Nature-based solutions comprise all activities related to the protection, creation or redevelopment of natural ecosystems, such as forests, grasslands and wetlands, to help absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

⁶Based on Sequence VI fuel economy test using SAE 0W-20

SHELL LUBRICANTS CARBON NEUTRAL FULL LEGAL DISCLOSURE