Tom Branna, Editorial Director05.29.21
Environmental activists won a lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell. Observers called it is a critical legal victory for climate change advocates.
In the suit, Milieudefensie, the Dutch arm of the Friends of the Earth environmental organization, together with 17 thousand citizens had sued Shell for its climate damaging activities—and won. The verdict implies that Shell has to reduce its 2030 carbon emissions by 45% compared to 2019.
The victory for the environmental group underscores the importance of corporate climate change initiatives. Earlier this month, the American Cleaning Institute unveiled its Climate Challenge Climate Challenge with goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the cleaning products value chain and confront climate change head on. The ACI Climate Challenge is the first step in ACI’s new roadmap for action on climate change, with the target of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The decision in The Netherlands court impacts Shell’s future emissions—not its past activities. Furthermore, although the court acknowledged that Shell has already taken numerous steps, their policy intentions and ambitions “largely amount to rather intangible, undefined and nonbinding plans for the long term.”
The decision was not rendered in a bubble. Dutch activist group Follow This, shareholders of Chevron voted for a climate resolution to formulate clear and ambitious goals for reducing carbon emissions. At the same time, Exxon Mobil’s shareholders voted to replace at least two of the company's 12 board members with members who were assumed better suited for fighting climate change.
In the suit, Milieudefensie, the Dutch arm of the Friends of the Earth environmental organization, together with 17 thousand citizens had sued Shell for its climate damaging activities—and won. The verdict implies that Shell has to reduce its 2030 carbon emissions by 45% compared to 2019.
The victory for the environmental group underscores the importance of corporate climate change initiatives. Earlier this month, the American Cleaning Institute unveiled its Climate Challenge Climate Challenge with goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the cleaning products value chain and confront climate change head on. The ACI Climate Challenge is the first step in ACI’s new roadmap for action on climate change, with the target of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The decision in The Netherlands court impacts Shell’s future emissions—not its past activities. Furthermore, although the court acknowledged that Shell has already taken numerous steps, their policy intentions and ambitions “largely amount to rather intangible, undefined and nonbinding plans for the long term.”
The decision was not rendered in a bubble. Dutch activist group Follow This, shareholders of Chevron voted for a climate resolution to formulate clear and ambitious goals for reducing carbon emissions. At the same time, Exxon Mobil’s shareholders voted to replace at least two of the company's 12 board members with members who were assumed better suited for fighting climate change.
