(May 27) Climate lawyers are gearing up to take on more fossil-fuel companies after a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell Plc to cut its emissions on the grounds that the oil giant is violating human rights by contributing to global warming.
“We are already supporting other organizations to set up similar cases in their countries,” said Donald Pols, director of environmental group MilieuDefensie, or Friends of the Earth Netherlands, which brought the case against Shell. “This court case and verdict open a whole new approach to climate litigation and because of its success it will be copied by other civil society organizations in the rest of the world.”
The Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that Shell should slash its greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. The company has only pledged to reduce emissions by 20% within the decade and reach net zero by mid-century. Shell plans to appeal the ruling.
The outcome was a turning point for climate court cases, which boomed after 189 countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015. More than half of the 1,727 cases recorded in the past 35 years started after the nations agreed to slow global warming, according to a report by the Geneva Association. Initially, many cases challenged governments’ climate plans, but litigators are increasingly targeting companies.
Companies operating in developed economies, mainly the U.S., U.K., European Union and Australia, face the highest risk of legal action, according to a Climate Litigation Index by research firm and consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. But climate lawsuits are breaking new ground in emerging markets, with cases filed in Argentina, South Africa and India.
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