Additional case

Environmental Defence launches new climate lawsuit against Shell

Dat Shell het hoofdkantoor heeft verplaatst naar Londen, staat het aanspannen van een nieuwe zaak voor de Nederlandse rechter volgens advocaat Roger Cox niet in de weg.

Milieudefensie is starting a new climate lawsuit against Shell. Director Donald Pols of the environmental organisation announced the case against the company on Tuesday, 13 May. “We demand that Shell immediately stop developing new oil and gas fields,” Pols said. “We as a society can no longer accept that a company like Shell determines our future.”

The environmental organisation previously filed a lawsuit against Shell. The stakes in that case were that the company must reduce the greenhouse gas emissions it produces by 45 per cent by the end of 2030. The court granted that demand, but on appeal the court of appeal ruled otherwise. According to the court, while companies like Shell also bear responsibility for countering climate change and its dangers, the judges saw no basis for imposing such a concrete percentage.

Seven hundred oil and gas fields

Milieudefensie appealed in cassation, but so has now also decided to file a supplementary case. This case revolves largely around seven hundred oil and gas fields that Shell could still develop in the future. That is what Milieudefensie wants to prevent with this case in one go. “There is no room whatsoever for new oil and gas fields,” Pols argued. “The consequences are disastrous.”

According to the environmental organisation, the oil and gas fields at stake in the case, if they do get developed, would start producing CO2 emissions 36 times greater than that of the whole of the Netherlands. The fact that Shell has moved its headquarters to London does not stand in the way of bringing a new case before the Dutch courts, according to lawyer Roger Cox.

Starting points for follow-up

After the court’s ruling in November last year, Cox said he already saw starting points for a follow-up. In their ruling, the judges pointed out that oil and gas companies have to take into account negative effects of their activities on the energy transition. “Shell’s intended investments in new oil and gas fields may be at odds with this,” the ruling stated. Cox called this “almost an invitation” at the time. Besides the point about the new fields, Friends of the Earth wants to try to get a tough ruling on the pace at which Shell must reduce emissions, now beyond 2030.

Also read:

This article was automatically translated from the Dutch language original to English (British).

Author: Nina Koelewijn

Source: MobilityEnergy.com

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