Protest against Shell | Shell Must Fall/Twitter
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a court of law has held a private company responsible for its contributions to the climate crisis.
The court at The Hague in the Netherlands ruled Thursday that fossil-fuel giant Royal Dutch Shell must reduce its emissions by 45 percent by 2030.
“This is a turning point in history,” Roger Cox, a lawyer for Friends of the Earth Netherlands, said in a press release. “This case is unique because it is the first time a judge has ordered a large polluting company to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement. This ruling may also have major consequences for other big polluters.”
A Dutch court has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its emissions 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, in a landmark ruling. EURACTIV's media partner, Climate Home News, reports.
Dutch court rules Shell must reduce emissions 45% by 2030 4 minutes read (Photo: Photographic Services, Shell International Limited)
The District Court of The Hague in the Netherlands on Wednesday ordered Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by a net 45% compared to 2019 levels by the end of 2030.
Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie), six other organizations and more than 17,000 co-plaintiffs, who issued a document to Friends of the Earth Netherlands appointing it as their representative, filed a lawsuit against Shell alleging human rights violations caused by CO2 emissions-inducing climate change.
Friends of the Earth Netherlands said in a release that this is “the first time in history a judge has held a corporation liable for causing dangerous climate change.” The organization’s lawyer, Roger Cox, said, “This is a turning point in history” because a judge has never before ordered a large polluting company to
Landmark ruling orders Shell to comply with Paris Agreement targets
27 May 2021
Royal Dutch Shell is set to appeal the outcome of a landmark judgment that ordered the mega polluter to cut its emissions by 45% by 2030, compared with 2019 levels. (Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Climate organisations across the globe are celebrating the first of its kind win.
A court in The Hague, Netherlands, passed the ruling on Wednesday, and activists are confident it will set a landmark precedent for the trajectory of the energy transition.
The case against the British-Dutch company was filed by Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie), 17 000 co-plaintiffs and six other organisations.
The Young Volunteers for Environment (YVE) has called for the rescue of Ghana’s fishing industry from collapsing weight of oil exploitation along some of the coasts lines of the country.
“The oil and gas sector is set to expand, but what is not clear is whether the fisheries sector is set to grow with it or shrink,” says the head of YVE, Mr. Amos Yesutanbul.
This was made known in a press statement issued on a CSO Forum on the Transformative system change agenda in Ghana and the environmental management policy for oil and gas industry by the YVE-Ghana in partnership with Frontier Institute of Development Planning (FIDEP) Foundation.