Shell Ordered by Dutch Court to Cut Carbon Emissions

Lawyers said the ruling, which Shell can appeal, could set a precedent in other Western jurisdictions, particularly in Europe, opening oil companies to a new legal jeopardy over their carbon emissions. The court didn’t stipulate how the ordered reductions should be met, or how it might monitor or enforce its ruling.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands, a local offshoot of the global environmental nonprofit network based in Amsterdam, led the civil lawsuit against Shell. It alleged the company’s production of oil and natural gas contributed to climate change, violating a so-called duty of care to those affected by it, and ignoring the company’s human-rights obligations. It asked the court to force Shell to reduce its carbon emissions.

The court said that Shell wasn’t in breach of its obligation to reduce carbon emissions, but that there was an “imminent breach” and therefore set the reduction requirement. The case was heard in December in The Hague. Shell has dual headquarters in The Hague and London.

Shell argued that climate change is a broader societal issue, and that it wasn’t appropriate to ask a single private party to reduce its carbon emissions. Shell didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Write to Sarah McFarlane at [email protected]