STORY: Shell has won an appeal against a landmark climate order for it to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The appeals court in The Hague dismissed the 2021 ruling that Shell must cut its absolute carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, relative to 2019 levels.
That included emissions caused by the use of its products.
The case had been brought Friends of the Earth Netherlands, known as Milieudefensie.
But presiding judge Carla Joustra said Shell was already on its way to meet required targets for its own emissions.
“Shell has set a specific reduction target for scope 1 and 2 that means its scope 1 and 2 emissions will be reduced by 50% by 2030 compared to 2016. Furthermore, it follows from the documents provided by Shell that it had already achieved a 31% reduction by 2023. So Shell is already doing what Milieudefensie is claiming from it. Milieudefensie’s claim regarding scope 1 and 2 is therefore not admissible.”
The Dutch court did say, however, that the oil giant has a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect people from global warming.
It said Shell was already on its way to meet required targets for its own emissions.
And it said that it was unclear if demands to reduce emissions caused by the use of its products would help the fight against climate change.
The ruling coincides with the COP29 U.N. climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
On the agenda is a continuation of last year’s talks about transitioning away from fossil fuels.
Shell Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan welcomed the decision, saying Shell believed it was “the right one for the global energy transition, the Netherlands and our company.”
Milieudefensie said it was disappointed about Shell’s victory and would continue its fight against large polluters.
“This really touches me. This should have been the moment of a real breakthrough in the fight against dangerous climate change. That didn’t happen today, but the fight against dangerous climate change is a marathon, not a sprint, and the race has only just begun.”
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