Ben van Beurden slashed thousands of jobs after Shell slumped into a huge loss.
Ben van Beurden, the former CEO of Shell, who terminated thousands of jobs after the organization suffered a big loss due to Covid lockdowns but received a pay package of 9.7 million pounds ($11.5 million) last year, an increase of 53% from 2021, said the group in its annual report on Thursday.
Van Beurden had a salary of 7.4 million euros ($7.8 million) in 2021, when Shell's headquarters had not yet been transferred from the Netherlands to Britain.
According to a Guardian report, Van Beurden's payout is likely to cause anger among campaigners calling for executive pay to be curbed against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis.
Alice Harrison, the fossil fuels campaign leader at Global Witness, told the news outlet, "It's shocking but not surprising that one of the world's richest oil and gas giants can hand its CEO a jaw-dropping bonus while hardworking people - nurses, paramedics, teachers - must go on strike to get fair pay.
"It's a sign of just how broken our energy system is that Shell and other fossil fuel companies have made record-breaking profits from an energy crisis that's forcing families to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table."
According to Guardian report, the firm cited Van Beurden's overall safety record in 2022 as justification for not reducing his compensation despite the deaths of two Shell contractors.
Shell last month announced that van Beurden would step down as CEO at the end of the year, as the energy major looks to reinvent itself under group renewables boss Wael Sawan.
Towards the end of his nine years at the helm, van Beurden slashed thousands of jobs after Shell slumped into a huge loss on Covid lockdowns.
The Shell veteran, who has spent almost 40 years as a group employee, departs having also carried out a major corporate overhaul that saw the company ditch "Royal Dutch" from the start of its name.
(With inputs from AFP)