What is it about?
On 26th May 2021, in a landmark response to a lawsuit filed against Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), the District Court of The Hague ordered the entire Shell group, a multinational oil and gas company. They did so to cut down its carbon dioxide emissions by 45% below the 2019 levels by 2030. This article describes the litigation, the court order, and the impact this could have on climate change in The Netherlands. While the plaintiffs’ in the lawsuit claimed negligence on behalf of RDS, the court’s decision relied on points centred around human rights and Netherland’s delicate environmental state. They stressed on the fact that RDS, as a large corporation, had a great responsibility to protect the environment. RDS, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, is the top share-holding company of the Shell group. This enables RDS to determine the group’s general corporate policy and supervise its climate change risk management. Thus, the responsibility to reduce the entire Shell group’s global emissions can lie with RDS, which is under the jurisdiction of The Nether-lands. This is how a district court in one country passes a ruling of unprecedented proportions.
Featured Image
Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This is a landmark judgement because no other large corporate entity has been held responsible for emissions on this scale, let alone a fossil fuel producing company. Although this judgement is set to be appealed, it marks the first step in truly moving towards a world not so completely en-trenched in fossil capitalism, one where an economy driven by renewable energy could thrive. KEY TAKEAWAY: This judgement could drive further climate change litigation against large corporations and make them more responsible in the fight against climate change.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Milieudefensie et al. v. Shell: A Tipping Point in Climate Change Litigation against Corporations?, Climate Law, July 2021, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/18786561-11020005.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative
Explore the wider collection of climate change research summaries.
Protecting the earth’s atmosphere with dedicated climate laws
The earth’s atmosphere and climate is ‘transnational’. That means that – unlike other aspects of our environment – it does not have national boundaries. Protecting the atmosphere and climate needs global agreement and action. Treating this as a separate area of law may make it easier to reach that agreement.
Are Climate Change Laws Fair? How China Views Fair Climate Responsibility
Countries are more likely to comply with international laws on climate change if the laws are perceived to be fair.
Water is a human right – we need to do more to protect it
Climate change will mean it becomes more difficult and more expensive to get access to drinking water. Some people will be affected worse than others. This is a breach of their human rights. We need to create and enforce laws that reduce the effects of climate change, to protect everyone’s access to water.
Why doesn’t climate law protect children’s human rights?
We know that the children of today will face the climate problems of tomorrow. Our children have the right to a sustainable environment. We must make sure our climate change policies protect children’s human rights.
Spotlight on: human rights
Frequently answered questions about why climate change is a human rights issue. Explore our summaries of the science on topics such as access to drinking water, clean air, food security, energy and more.
Listen to Andreas Hoesli talk about his work
“Survival by Degrees” Episode 2: Milieudefensie v. Shell: A Tipping Point in Climate Change Litigation against Corporations
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
