Almost simultaneously Shell stations in Germany were attacked over the company's plans to sink an oil rig called Brent Spar in the North Sea, and Shell was blamed for the execution of Nigerian author Ken Saro-Wiwa, who had protested Shell's environmental record in his country. "It was a real wake-up call," says Watts. To understand how it had so badly mangled its public image, Shell commissioned a global survey of society's expectations. The company then hired KPMG to collect and audit statistics on a range of issues. Since 1997 its annual Shell Report has recorded its polluting emissions, its energy efficiency, and a slew of other statistics meant to quantify its social performance much as an annual report does. In many cases the desire to bolster its green record has helped Shell boost the bottom line. For instance, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Nigeria, long a trouble spot for Shell, the company stopped flaring excess gas from oil wells.