Shell ordered to slash carbon emissions in landmark Dutch ruling

THE HAGUE • A Dutch court has ordered oil giant Shell to slash its greenhouse gas emissions targets in a landmark victory for climate activists.

The ruling could also pave the way for legal action against energy firms around the world.

Dubbed "the People versus Shell", the case was launched in 2019 by the Netherlands branch of Friends of the Earth, and is backed by six other groups and more than 17,000 Dutch citizens.

"The court orders Royal Dutch Shell... to reduce its CO2 output and those of its suppliers and buyers by the end of 2030 by a net of 45 per cent based on 2019 levels," the court said yesterday.

"Royal Dutch Shell has to implement this decision at once."

The climate groups had asked the court to impose the target, saying that Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell should meet emissions targets in the 2015 Paris climate accords.

Shell said in February it had set new targets to reduce its net carbon footprint compared with a 2016 baseline by 20 per cent by 2030, 45 per cent by 2035 and 100 per cent by 2050. Its previous targets were 30 per cent by 2035 and 65 per cent by 2050.

Shell had argued that it is making serious efforts to cut gas emissions, but that there is no legal basis for the case and that governments are responsible for meeting the Paris targets.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands, one of the groups leading the case, said in a statement ahead of the verdict that it was "unique because it is the first time in history that judges have been asked to order a company to emit less CO2".

The case is one of a series around the world in which citizens and campaigners frustrated with inaction on climate change have hauled governments and big polluters before the courts.

The 2015 Paris accords committed all nations to cut carbon emissions to limit warming to 2 deg C above pre-industrial levels and encouraged them to go down to 1.5 deg C.

ActionAid Netherlands executive director Marit Maij said that "big polluters like Shell have an outsized responsibility to help tackle climate change".

The group said Shell's "strategy is to keep polluting while offsetting their emissions with vast tree plantations".

"This will require land the equivalent of three times the size of the Netherlands, which risks driving conflicts over food and land in the Global South," Ms Maij added, referring to poorer countries in the global north-south divide.

Dozens of climate marchers handed in the lawsuit to Shell's headquarters in The Hague in April 2019 in what organisers said was the first case of its kind.

Shell's lawyers told the court in December that the firm was already taking "serious steps" to support the global transition away from fossil fuels, and that the ultimate decision rested with governments.

Mr Michael Burger, head of the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, said that "there is no question that this is a significant development in global climate litigation, and it could reverberate through courtrooms around the world".

He is representing local governments in the US in climate change lawsuits, including against Shell.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS