Shell's new boss received a pay package of almost £8m in his first year in the role, the energy giant has revealed.

Detail of the pay emerged as Shell watered down one of its carbon reduction targets.

Wael Sawan was paid a total of £7.94m, including bonuses, although that was below the £9.7m received by his predecessor, Ben van Beurden, in 2022.

The size of the pay package came under fire from pressure groups.

Jonathan Noronha-Gant, senior fossil fuels campaigner at Global Witness, said the amount was "a bitter pill to swallow for the millions of workers living with the high costs of energy".

Shell also announced that it planned to reduce the "net carbon intensity" of the energy it sells by 15-20% by 2030, compared with a previous target of 20%.

It also dropped its plan to reduce net carbon intensity by 45% by 2035.

Shell said this was due to "uncertainty in the pace of change in the energy transition".

The company said it would now focus on "value over volume" and concentrate on selling electricity to business customers rather than households.

Separately Shell set a new goal to reduce customer emissions from the use of the company's oil products, like petrol and diesel, by 15-20% by 2030.

Rival energy giant BP said last year that it was scaling back its plans to cut carbon emissions.

BP also reported last week that its chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, received a pay packet worth just over £8m last year.

The size of pay packages at energy firms has come under scrutiny after companies saw huge profits when oil and gas prices soared in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Andrew Speke, spokesperson for the High Pay Centre said Shell was "more interested in prioritising the enrichment of their executives and shareholders".

"This is evidence of the urgent need to reform company law... to force companies like Shell to address excessive executive pay." (BBC)

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