British oil and gas giant Shell faced a stormy shareholders' gathering Tuesday, as environmental protesters hit out over its pledge to tackle carbon emissions.

Pressure groups including Greenpeace, Fossil Free London, Neon and Tipping Point demonstrated outside Shell's annual general meeting in London.

More than 100 activists interrupted the opening remarks from chief executive Wael Sawan, according to Fossil Free London, while others attempted to occupy the stage.

Shareholder activist group Follow This introduced a resolution calling on Shell to strengthen its ambitions to fight climate change, backed by one-fifth of shareholders who voted.

"Considering that up to 99 percent of shareholders voted along with the board on the other 25 resolutions, 20 percent of support and a significant number of abstentions in spite of a negative board recommendation clearly indicates shareholder discontent," said Follow This founder Mark van Baal.

Shell chairman Andrew Mackenzie earlier argued the resolution would "weaken" the business, reducing the company's "ability to help the world".

Tuesday's AGM came after Shell posted a sharp jump in first-quarter profit on resurgent oil prices, mirroring bumper earnings at rivals BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies.

"Shut down Shell," protesters chanted as they also interrupted speeches from Mackenzie and other board members.

(AFP)

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