Greenpeace UK has donated £300,000 to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as part of a lawsuit settlement with the oil company Shell.
Shell filed the legal action after Greenpeace campaigners occupied a moving oil platform for 13 days in January last year to protest against climate damage caused by the oil giant.
Four campaigners boarded the platform just north of the Canary Islands while it was being transported to the Shetland Islands, according to reports in The Guardian newspaper.
At the time, Shell sought and received injunctions from the court, which the oil company said was to “prevent an escalation of these protests” and required a legal claim against Greenpeace.
Third Sector understands that Shell’s total claim amounted to $900,000 (£713,000), which included about $500,000 (£396,000) incurred for the emergency response vessel at the time of the incident.
But Greenpeace said its defendants were facing more than $11m (£8.7m) in damages and legal costs as a result of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which Greenpeace previously alleged was intended to “intimidate the group into silence and drain its resources”, has been settled with no money being paid to Shell.
Greenpeace said that under the settlement agreement, the organisation would accept no liability and pay no money to Shell, having agreed instead to donate £300,000 to the RNLI.
A spokesperson for RNLI said: “We are grateful to have received the donation, which will support our core purpose of saving lives at sea.”
Greenpeace has also signed a legally binding commitment to Shell UK and the High Court prohibiting Greenpeace from protesting at four Shell sites in the northern North Sea, three for a period of five years and another for a period of 10 years.
Greenpeace said that its defendants had no plans to take direct action at these sites but added that it would “continue to campaign against Shell including in the North Sea”.
Areeba Hamid, co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said: “Shell thought suing us for millions over a peaceful protest would intimidate us, but this case became a PR millstone tied around its neck. The public backlash against its bullying tactics made it back down and settle out of court.
“We’ve ensured not a penny of our supporters’ money will go to Shell and all funds raised will be used to continue campaigning against the fossil fuel industry and other big polluters.”
In a statement, Shell said: “Shell is pleased that the dispute has been settled and that a payment in lieu of the costs it incurred can benefit a charity working on safety at sea.
“For Shell, the right to protest is fundamental and has never been at issue. Instead, this case was about an illegal boarding by protesters which a High Court judge described as ‘putting their lives and, indirectly, the lives of the crew at risk’.”