Shell, the subject of international Greenpeace campaigns, is to give motorists the option of paying more for fuel to fund projects offsetting the car emissions

Europe’s biggest oil company will plant millions of trees as part of a $300 million plan to reduce its carbon footprint.

Royal Dutch Shell said that it also would give motorists the option of paying more for fuel to fund projects offsetting the emissions that they would generate by driving.

The one cent per litre voluntary levy is being launched in the Netherlands this month and will be rolled out at Shell’s petrol stations in Britain this year.

The Anglo-Dutch energy group employs about 80,000 people worldwide. It reported profits of $24 billion last year, mainly from producing and selling oil and gas.

Shell is investing up to $2 billion a year in clean energy to help to tackle climate change and last year it