Shell will fight to convince judges in The Hague this week to repeal a landmark order to cut greenhouse gas emissions, in a closely watched test of polluters’ ability to keep climate change-related court action at bay.
Lawyers from British firm Clifford Chance will argue that the ruling compelling the oil and gas company to slash its emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, relative to 2019, had no legal basis and overstepped the remit of the judiciary.
The historic win in the district court of The Hague in May 2021 for the Dutch wing of Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, spawned a series of copycat cases by non-profit groups against multinationals, including most recently BNP Paribas and TotalEnergies.