Carbon Emissions Lawsuit: Dutch Appeal Court Overturns Landmark Climate Ruling Against Shell

Royal Dutch Shell has expressed delight over Dutch Court of Appeal ruling overturning a 2021 decision by the District Court of The Hague requiring the company to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030.

BIGPEN NIGERIA (https://bigpenngr.com) reports that the appeal court’s verdict supports Shell’s strategy to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050.

The case was brought against Shell plc by Milieudefensie, other NGOs and a group of private individuals.

Reactimg to the ruling on Tuesday, the Chief Executive Officer of Shell, Wael Sawan stated that the court’s decision is right for the global energy transition, adding that Shell has invested heavily in low-carbon energy solutions, allocating $10-15 billion between 2023 and 2025.

He said thag the company has made significant progress in reducing emissions, achieving over 60% of its target to halve Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.

Sawan, also said that Shell has reduced the net carbon intensity of its energy products by 6.3% compared to 2016.

The statement entitled: “Shell welcomes Dutch Court of Appeal ruling” reads; “We are pleased with the court’s decision, which we believe is the right one for the global energy transition, the Netherlands and our company,” said Shell plc Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan.

“Our target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 remains at the heart of Shell’s strategy and is transforming our business. This includes continuing our work to halve emissions from our operations by 20301. We are making good progress in our strategy to deliver more value with less emissions.”

The past few years have highlighted the critical importance of secure and affordable energy for economies and people’s lives. At the same time, the world must meet growing demand for energy while tackling the urgent challenge of climate change. There has been significant progress in the transition to low-carbon energy where governments have introduced policies to encourage investment and drive changes in demand.

As Shell has stated previously, a court ruling would not reduce overall customer demand for products such as petrol and diesel for cars, or for gas to heat and power homes and businesses. It would do little to reduce emissions, as customers would take their business elsewhere. We believe that smart policies from governments, along with investment and action across all sectors, will drive the progress towards net-zero emissions that we all want to see.

In 2021, the District Court of The Hague ruled that Shell plc must reduce the worldwide aggregate net carbon emissions it reports across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by net 45% by the end of 2030, compared with 2019 levels, with a “significant best efforts” obligation for Scopes 2 and 3, and a “results-based” obligation for Scope 1. Shell’s appeal did not have the effect of suspending the District Court’s decision.

Shell is investing $10-15 billion between 2023 and the end of 2025 in low-carbon energy solutions including charging for electric vehicles, biofuels, renewable power, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage, making Shell a significant investor in the energy transition.

Shell invested $5.6 billion in low-carbon solutions in 2023, which was 23% of our capital spending.

By the end of 2023, Shell had achieved more than 60% of its target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions from its operations by 50% by 2030, compared with 2016.

By the end of 2023, Shell had also achieved its short-term target to reduce the net carbon intensity of the energy products we sell (6.3% reduction against our target of 6-8%) compared with 2016. Our analysis, using data from the International Energy Agency, shows the net carbon intensity of the global energy system fell by around 3% over the same period.

Shell continues to be one of the industry leaders in reducing emissions of methane. In 2023, we continued to keep our methane emissions intensity well below 0.2% and, by the end of 2023, we had reduced our methane emissions by 70% since 2016.

To help drive the decarbonisation of transport, Shell set a new ambition in 2024 to reduce customer emissions from the use of our oil products (such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene) by 15-20% by 2030, compared with 2021 (Scope 3, Category 11)2. 

On a net basis; baseline year 2016.
2 Customer emissions from the use of our oil products (Scope 3, Category 11) were 517 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2023 and 569 million tonnes CO2e in 2021.