Dutch environmentalists have won a historic court case that could have significant consequences for global climate movement and oil companies. Wednesday, the Hague District Court ordered the Royal Netherlands shell to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by the end of the decade. After hearing both sides, a panel of judges determined that the climate plan of the energy giant was too vague. “[IT] is not concrete, has many warnings and is based on the monitoring of social developments rather than the responsibility of the Company for CO2,” the Tribunal said.
Midfielder, the Dutch branch of the Friends of the Earth, alongside several other charities, human rights groups and possibly more than 17,000 co-applicants, continues its shell in 2018, requiring the company brings its emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The case went to court last December. Following the decision of Wednesday, the Court did not say how Shell should respect its new target of emissions, noting its parent company “has total freedom in the way it responds to its reduction obligation and shape the policy Enterprise of the Shell Group. ” The case is unique in that the Court did not command Shell to pay monetary damages. It should also be noted that the decision applies only to the operations of society in the Netherlands.
Shell called the decision “disappointing” and stated that he plans to challenge her. “Even if Shell decides to appeal, the decision will lead to more cases in the world and politicians and oil and gas companies will feel the pressure of the modification of their course,” said a spokesperson for midwifery.
“The decision of the shell is a hydrographic basin of the oil and gas industry” Carroll Muffett, Director General and President of the International Environmental Law, told Gizmodo. “The Court has clearly clarified that Shell and the actors of the same situation have to take responsibility for reducing the reduction. Not only the direct emissions resulting from its own operations. The decision also comes at a time of the climate crisis. . In its 2020 emission gap report, the United Nations issued a STARK warning. He said the world is about to a disaster 3 degrees Celsius increased global temperatures by 2050 if governments From around the world are not reset in carbon emissions by the end of the decade.
