Shell boss tells conference: “Tax people in this room to help the poor”

Soaring energy prices could fuel a broader social instability, Shell CEO has warned

Governments should tax the wealthy to help those of low income tackle the rising cost of living and the energy crisis.

Speaking to the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, the Chief Executive Officer of Shell, Ben van Beurden said that volatility in the European energy markets could trigger a wider social instability.

He said: “You cannot have a market that behaves like this – that is going to damage a significant part of society.

“A government intervention that somehow results in protecting the poorest, that probably may then mean that governments need to tax people in this room to pay for it.

“I think we just have to accept as a society it can be done smartly and not so smartly. There is a discussion about it but I think it’s inevitable.

The boss of the energy giant had previously warned that Europe could face several winters of gas shortage. 

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