Environmentalists and the oil giant Shell will face off Friday at the Dutch Supreme Court in what is billed as the first time a country’s top court will consider a company’s responsibility to curb planet-warming emissions.
The hearing comes two years after an appeals court in the Netherlands handed a legal victory to Shell, finding that a lower bench improperly imposed a binding emissions mandate on the oil company.
Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), which filed the climate case against Shell, however, has argued that the company has a legal duty to reduce its emissions by a specific figure: 45 percent by 2030, compared to 2019.
“We will show that there is indeed a solid legal basis for imposing a specific reduction percentage on Shell,” said Milieudefensie spokesperson Winnie Oussoren. “It’s time for Shell to take responsibility for its climate harms.”
