Milieudefensie v Royal Dutch Shell plc
The District Court ordered Shell to reduce the emissions of the Shell group by 45 percent by 2030, holding that it owed an unwritten duty of care to reduce emissions, though the order was set aside on appeal.
Facts
Milieudefensie, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, and other organisations and individuals sued Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company of the Shell group, arguing that the group's contribution to climate change breached an unwritten standard of care under Dutch tort law, interpreted in the light of human rights and international climate agreements. They sought an order requiring Shell to reduce the emissions of the group, including the emissions from the use of its products by customers.
Legal principle
The District Court held that Shell owed a duty of care to reduce the emissions of the Shell group, and ordered it to reduce the group's net emissions, including those from its products, by 45 percent by 2030 compared with 2019 levels. The court said that companies have a responsibility to respect human rights, and that Shell's policies were not sufficiently concrete. In November 2024, the Court of Appeal of The Hague set aside the order, holding that Shell did have a duty to reduce its emissions, but that there was insufficient scientific consensus to impose a specific reduction percentage on an individual company.
Related cases on climate change litigation
- Duarte Agostinho v Portugal and 32 Other States (2024) Application no 39371/20
- Lliuya v RWE AG (2025) I-5 U 15/17
- Massachusetts v Environmental Protection Agency 549 US 497 (2007)
- Neubauer v Germany (2021) 1 BvR 2656/18
- R (Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy [2022] EWHC 1841 (Admin)
- R (Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero [2024] EWHC 995 (Admin)
- Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (2024) ITLOS Case No 31
- Smith v Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd [2024] NZSC 5
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