Regrettable: Lego chief executive, Joergen Vig Knudstorp, said the company ‘should never have become part of Greenpeace’s dispute with Shell’giant Shell following protests by Green campaigners.The Danish toy maker has announced it will not renew a current deal allowing Shell to hand out Lego sets at its petrol stations in 30 countries, following a viral online campaign.The campaign, which included a video showing an Arctic landscape with a Shell drilling platform made of Lego bricks covered in oil, was orchestrated by Greenpeace.The three month campaign saw more than one million people signing a petition calling on the toy brand to stop promoting Shell’s brand because of the claimed damage that will be caused to the Arctic landscape.Lego chief executive, Joergen Vig Knudstorp, explained the decision by saying the protest against plans by Shell to begin drilling in the Arctic next year ‘may have created misunderstandings among our stakeholders’.He said green campaigners should take up their concerns directly with the oil company, adding that Lego ‘should never have become part of Greenpeace’s dispute with Shell’.
Mr Knudstorp said: ‘The long-term co-promotion contract we entered with Shell in 2011 delivers on the objective of bringing Lego bricks into the hands of many children, and we will honour it - as we would with any contract we enter.But he added: ‘We continuously consider many different ways of how to deliver on our promise of bringing creative play to more children.‘We want to clarify that as things currently stand we will not renew the co-promotion contract with Shell when the present contract ends.’Lego refused to say when the current contract expires.Greenpeace insisted the toy company was doing the right thing under public pressure and should choose its partners more carefully when it came to the threats facing children from climate change.The environmental group is calling for a sanctuary to be created in the Arctic to protect it from drilling and industrial fishing, and for there to be no oil exploration in Arctic waters as the melting ice cap makes the fragile region more accessible.
Ian Duff, Arctic campaigner at Greenpeace, said: ‘This is a major blow to Shell. It desperately needs partners like LEGO to help give it respectability and repair the major brand damage it suffered after its last Arctic misadventure. Lego’s withdrawal from a 50 year relationship with Shell clearly shows that strategy will not work.’ Campaign: Greenpeace created a petition that was signed by more than a million people urging Lego to sever their relationship with Shell in response to the company's plans to drill for oil in the ArcticHe added: ‘LEGO’s decision couldn’t have come soon enough. The Arctic, and its incredible wildlife, like polar bears and narwhals, is under threat like never before.‘Arctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate, but instead of seeing the huge risks, oil companies like Shell are circling like vultures. Only weeks ago Shell gave us the clearest indication yet that it’s planning to go back to the Arctic as soon as next summer.’Shell originally planned to drill around the Arctic coast of Alaska in 2013 and 2014, however it did not go ahead because of technical problems linked to the extreme weather.
End of an era: After 50 years working together, Shell will no longer be allowed to hand out Lego sets at its petrol stations In August, it filed a revised Arctic offshore drilling plan with US regulators but said it has not decided whether to start in 2015.Shell said: ‘Our latest co-promotion with Lego has been a great success and will continue to be as we roll it out in more countries across the world. We don’t comment on contractual matters.‘We respect the right of individuals and organisations to engage in a free and frank exchange of views about meeting the world’s growing energy needs.‘Recognising the right of individuals to express their point of view, we only ask that they do so in a manner that is lawful and does not place their safety or the safety of others at risk.’The sets involved in the promotion include Lego racing cars and a Shell petrol station. Greenpeace insisted the toy company was doing the right thing and should choose its partners more carefully when it came to the threats facing children from climate change (pictured posed by models)
The page or product you’re looking for has vanished into thin air… don’t you hate it when that happens?(by ‘vanished’ we mean it’s probably moved, or no longer exists) But since you’re here, check out some of the stuff below that may just float your boat.Famed car designer Gordon Murray will team up with former Honda engine specialist Osamu Goto and oil company Shell to develop a concept for "an ultra-compact, efficient car for city use based around the internal combustion engine." It's not intended for production. Instead, the project's ambitions are far broader, as Murray discussed in an interview with Green Car Reports this morning. The goal of the project is nothing less than a "step change" in the efficiency of engine-driven vehicles, both in operation and in their manufacturing. DON'T MISS: Gordon Murray's T25 Minicar Finally Revealed (Jun 2010) The Project M concept is to be a "simple, practical, global city car" that's even lighter, more aerodynamic, and more efficient than Murray's first T25 design for a city car, released almost five years ago.
That concept vehicle was largely designed to demonstrate the iStream production process that Murray says radically reduces the cost and energy of building cars in any segment. The T25 of 2010 was a tall, narrow, three-seat minicar powered by a three-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels. (An electric variant, the T27, was also shown at the same time, but it will not be a part of Project M. ) Gordon Murray Design T25 MinicarEnlarge Photo The low-energy iStream manufacturing process significantly reduces the capital investment required to produce a vehicle, including the energy required for manufacture. It involves no stamped metal components, and Gordon Murray Design has spent the past three years engaging with "more and more real-world customers" to prove out the concept. At the moment, he says, the company is in serious negotiations with five separate global vehicle manufacturers on eight different models--from city cars through five-seat sedans to 3.5-ton commercial trucks.
ALSO SEE: Tiny T25, T27 Three-Seat Minicars Delight To Drive, But Not For U.S. (May 2012) Project M brings together Murray's company with engine designer Goto, who he first worked with a quarter of a century ago, and Shell, a longtime sponsor of efficiency events like this weekend's Shell Eco Drive. Goto and the Swiss specialty engineering firm Geo Technology will focus on increasing the efficiency of the engine, based on the 0.66-liter three-cylinder unit used in the outgoing generation of Smart ForTwo vehicles sold in Europe. The firm believes that further improvements in thermal efficiency are possible, as well as significant reductions in internal friction using coated materials rather than today's "rough" metal components. Gordon Murray T.27 crash testEnlarge Photo That's where the Shell Lubricants team comes in; it will design lubricating oil specially for the resulting engine, as well as grease and other lubricants for other vehicle components. The efficiency gains possible due to lubricants are higher than many realize, Murray said.