Shell not obliged to cut pollution, Dutch court rules in landmark climate case

2

Shell is not obliged to dramatically reduce its planet-heating pollution by 2030, a Dutch appeals court ruled Tuesday, overturning a previous verdict that imposed steep carbon emissions reductions on the British oil and gas giant.

Shell (SHEL) had appealed the previous ruling, handed down in 2021, which ordered the company to slash its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. That included emissions from its own operations and from the energy products it sells.

While The Hague Court of Appeal ruled that Shell is obliged to limit its CO2 emissions — in order to protect the planet from dangerous climate change — it said there is insufficient agreement in climate science on a specific reduction percentage that an individual company such as Shell should adhere to. As such, it dismissed the previous ruling.

The ruling noted that Shell is already working to reduce emissions from its own operations — so-called scope 1 and 2 emissions — and that forcing the company to reduce the far greater emissions caused by the use of its products, known as scope 3 emissions, would not be effective.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan said in a statement: “We are pleased with the court’s decision, which we believe is the right one for the global energy transition, the Netherlands and our company.”

Friends of the Earth Netherlands, an environmental campaigning group that brought the case against Shell, expressed disappointment with the outcome.

“This hurts,” said director Donald Pols. “At the same time, we see that this case has ensured that major polluters are not inviolable and has further fueled the debate about their responsibility in combating dangerous climate change. That is why we’re going to continue to tackle big polluters, like Shell.”

Friends of the Earth did not say whether it would appeal the ruling at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.

This is a developing story and will be updated.