Dutch courts to resolve Shell’s climate change responsibility | Climate News

The Dutch court ruling against Royal Dutch Shell Plc will decide whether it has legal responsibility for climate change in a case that Big Oil executives will see around the world.

A jury in a low court in The Hague will rule on Wednesday in a case that is also closely followed by environmentalists. Although the judgment is legally binding in the Netherlands, it should be considered as a new area of ​​litigation and can guide the deliberations of judges elsewhere.

Shell sued Milieudefensie, the Dutch arm of the Friends of the Earth, and lawyers have spent two weeks in court arguing that the company violated human rights earlier this year by extracting fossil fuels and aiming to reduce the Paris Agreement’s temperature rise to below temperature rises. 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Oil companies around the world have a duty of care in their countries to prevent oil spills and other unintentional pollution actions. The ruling, which blames greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, would be an important victory for environmental activists as they increasingly turn to the courts for reform. In recent counts, there have been about 1,700 cases of climate change targeted at governments and businesses, according to the climatecasechart.com database.

“This is certainly a very important case,” said Eric De Brabandere, an international professor of conflict resolution at Leiden University in the Netherlands. “Not only does it directly target this large oil company, but it indirectly attacks the entire oil extraction industry.”

Shell has acknowledged that it has a role to play in tackling climate change and says it is doing so, but that it is better achieved through cooperation instead of the courts.

“Dealing with climate change is a huge challenge, and it requires cooperation and a global vision,” Shell Donny Ching, Legal Director, said at the company’s annual meeting last week. “I don’t think the lawsuit will help us.”

17,000 plaintiffs

Milieudefensie gathered 17,000 people to sign its indictment, saying “this is the first time a court has ordered a transnational corporation polluted to emit less CO₂ to save the climate.”

“Judges around the world are looking at climate change cases and are looking for other judges to get benchmarks,” said Michael Burger, director general of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School.

Recent decisions have not taken Shell’s path in the two countries where the Anglo-Dutch company is listed together. Thousands of Nigerians can sue Shell over environmental damage to the West African nation in London, the UK High Court said in February. A month earlier, a Dutch court had ordered Shell’s Nigerian unit to sue its residents 13 years ago in a lawsuit also filed by Milieudefens.

New York City had a setback last month in an effort to help Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and other energy companies cover public spending on climate change, as a federal appeals court ruled that the global issue requires more than politics. judicial action.

The corporation responsible for violating the Paris Convention, which is not a signatory, may not be compatible with international law. Although the case is being heard in The Hague, it is the seat of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, which is being held in accordance with Dutch law in its first trial court.

“It will be this test: how far Shell has a duty to reduce climate change, and that is not given,” De Brabander said. “International law does not really apply to companies, but to governments that have a duty to apply it to companies.”

A Dutch environmental group successfully denounced the Dutch government in 2015, pushing for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The Dutch Supreme Court upheld the decision in 2019, saying the “state” for its part is “forced”.

The International Energy Agency last week focused on energy companies to stop the development of new oil, gas and coal fields today or to risk a dangerous rise in global temperatures.

“The days of fossil fuel extraction are numbered and traditional oil exploration companies will have to quickly switch to green alternatives,” said Angus Walker, a partner at London-based BDB Pitmans. “Shell will have to read and catch what is written on the wall, whether he wins this case or not.”

Other major oil companies will face off on Wednesday. The No. 1 active investor engineer wants to replace one-third of Exxon Mobil’s management at its annual meeting to try to force a climate review of the world’s largest oil exporter. U.S. No. 2 Chevron Corp. the producer will face them today at his annual meeting to achieve his goals.