Environmental groups take Shell to court over
climate change Business
Society
December 1, 2020
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/12/environmental-groups-take-shell-to-court-over-climate-change/
ANP Judges
in The Hague will on Tuesday start hearing claims that oil giant Shell has not
done enough to combat climate change in a case brought by environmental groups
and supported by over 17,000 private individuals. The plaintiffs, led by
Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), say that Shell has been
aware of the damage it is causing for decades and that it is breaking the law
by expanding its fossil fuel operations. ‘Shell maintains that is living up to
the Paris agreements [for combating climate change] but in practice that is far
from the truth,’ Milieudefense says. ‘Shell simply continues drilling for oil
and gas and spends billions every year on oil and gas exploration.’
Milieudefense says Shell was aware that oil and gas use are ‘disastrous’ for
the climate since the 1960s but has done nothing with the knowledge. More than
that, it has paid lobby groups millions of euros a year to deny climate change
exists, the organisation says. Four days have been set aside for the public
hearings, which will run into mid December. The case was first launched last
year. Without foundation Shell, meanwhile, has described the Milieudefensie
claims as ‘inappropriate and legally without foundation’. Milieudefensie and
its fellow campaigners identify Shell as the primary obstacle to achieving
global climate ambitions by making ‘broad and sweeping statements, many of
which are unsubstantiated or wrong, with over-reaching conclusions,’ Shell says
in a website rebuttal of the charges. ‘For example, they assert that the Paris
agreement is directly binding on Shell, and they allege that Shell had unique
or special knowledge about CO₂-related climate change. These allegations are
not true,’ the company said. Urgenda The Shell case is not the first time Dutch
environmental groups have headed to the courts over climate change, but this is
the first case against a private company. A year ago, the Supreme Court ruled
that the Dutch state is required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect
the health of its people, ending a seven year legal process. The court said
then that the Dutch courts do have the power to determine if the government is
meeting its obligations, as set down in the European treaty of human rights,
which commits the state to protecting its citizens.
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