The annual meeting was instead dominated by questions about Shell's environmental record in Nigeria, where green groups claim it has not addressed local concerns about water pollution, oil leaks, pipeline sabotage and gas flaring. Malcolm Brinded, director for upstream, said Shell "hopes" to end the controversial practice of burning excess gas during oil extraction but would not put a date on when this would happen. He said there was no evidence that flaring causes health issues, but acknowledged its high carbon emissions.