* Investors managing $7.9 trln in assets call for targets
* Shell says targets will limit its ability to adapt
* Shell urges shareholders to oppose AGM resolution
By Ron Bousso
THE HAGUE, May 22 (Reuters) - Top investors in Royal DutchShell on Tuesday stepped up pressure on the oil and gasgiant to commit to hard targets to reduce greenhouse gasemissions to battle climate change.
Shell has set out "ambitions" to halve carbon emissions by2050 and expand in renewables energy, which Chief ExecutiveOfficer Ben van Beurden said were ground breaking for the oilindustry.
"Nobody else comes close, it is seriously ambitious," vanBeurden said of Shell's plan at the company's annual generalmeeting in The Hague.
While praising Shell for its plan, a growing number of majorshareholders has urged the Anglo-Dutch company to commit to hardtargets to reduce carbon emissions from its oil and gasproduction, as well as from fuels it sells around the world.
"We call for this ambition to be translated into firm mediumand short term targets, aligned with the Paris Agreement," agroup of 27 investors managing $7.9 trillion in assets said in astatement read at the AGM.
Shell's board has urged shareholders to vote against aresolution brought forward for a vote at the AGM by activistgroup Follow This calling on Shell to set hard targets to reduceemissions in order to meet the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement goalto limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius.
Van Beurden warned that doing so would hamper Shell'sefforts to adapt to the transition going on in energy.
"The reputation of our company is irrevocably linked totargets... Nobody can see how the energy transition will playout over this period," van Beurden said.
The previous two climate resolutions tabled by Follow Thisin 2016 and 2017 won the support of 2.8 percent and 6.3 percentof the votes, respectively.
Last week, a group of 60 global investors urged companies todo more to reduce emissions and become more transparent abouttheir plans.
Shell announced late last year an ambition to slashemissions of greenhouse gases by 20 percent by 2035 and by halfby 2050. The targets will include all of Shell's operations aswell as emissions from products consumed by consumers.
Producing and burning of oil and gas account for around 50percent of global carbon emissions.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely)
