Back to court for Shell. The oil giant faced, on Tuesday April 2, before an appeals court in the Netherlands, seven Dutch environmental NGOs who accuse it of not having implemented a 2021 judgment ordering it to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases.
A court in The Hague had ordered this Anglo-Dutch group to reduce its net CO2 emissions by at least 45% by the end of 2030 compared to 2019, estimating that they contributed to global warming and its consequences disastrous.
The judgment was described as historic by environmental activists, according to whom no other multinational had then been forced by the courts to align with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Read alsoNetherlands: Shell ordered to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030
Shell appealed the decision, considering that there was no legal basis for the NGOs' demands and that this process was a political decision at government level.
“A civil judge simply does not have the authority to make decisions in a civil case that has national and political implications,” Shell lawyer Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer told the judges.
Climate objectives revised downwards
A new study “reveals that Shell will continue to invest billions of dollars in (new) oil and gas projects for the coming decades,” accused Milieudefensie, the organization behind the case.
“In addition, Shell has announced its intention to reduce its climate ambitions, voluntarily choosing to ignore its role in the fight against the climate crisis,” denounced this NGO before the appeal trial, which is scheduled to last four days.
The study in question – carried out by Milieudefensie and the fossil fuel research group Oil Change International – notes that Shell has also made the final decision to approve twenty major oil and gas projects, “including six in 2023 alone ".
“The court is now truly the last bastion in the defense of what undermines a civilization of human rights and a livable environment,” Milieudefensie's lawyer Roger Cox said during the hearings. “Without the verdict, Shell will push the world further and further into climate catastrophe.”
The legal proceedings, opened under the name "the people against Shell", were initiated in April 2019 by several NGOs, including the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth Milieudefensie and Greenpeace. More than 17,000 Dutch citizens also joined as civil parties.
A “counterproductive” judgment, according to Shell
Shell denies having ignored the 2021 court decision. In addition to the fact that it has until 2030 to implement it, this company argues that it intends to invest "from 10 to 15 billion dollars between 2023 and 2025 in low-carbon energy solutions", or 23% of its capital expenditure.
The oil giant believes that the 2021 judgment is “ineffective and even counterproductive in the fight against climate change”.
“We also believe that it is urgent to act to stop climate change,” added Frans Everts, Managing Director of Shell Netherlands, at the start of the hearing. “But this lawsuit is not the way to achieve that goal” because “a decision against an individual company is simply not effective if the problem continues to exist.”
“If this judgment is confirmed, it will have considerable consequences for Dutch companies, employment and the investment climate in the Netherlands,” warned the group, which is now headquartered in London.
The judges' decision is expected within the next three months.
"We are very confident. We have been working for more than two years to get to this moment," said Donald Pols, who heads Milieudefensie. Since 2021, “the quality of climate science has only improved. And the legal basis for the trial has only increased,” he commented to AFP outside from the courthouse in The Hague.
With AFP
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