Dutch Court of Appeal upholds appeal on landmark climate litigation case against Shell

On 12 November 2024, The Hague Court of Appeal (“CoA”) handed down its highly anticipated judgment in the appeal of the Milieudefensie et al. vs. Royal Dutch Shell case. The CoA was considering Shell’s appeal against one of the most significant climate litigation rulings in recent years, namely the 2021 ruling of the District Court of The Hague ("District Court") in which Shell was ordered to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions across its global operations by 45% by the end of 2030 as compared with 2019 levels.

Significantly, the CoA upheld Shell's appeal in respect of the specific percentage reduction which had been imposed by the District Court in 2021, overturning the District Court's order in this regard.

Nevertheless, the CoA made a range of other findings which will be significant for climate litigation against corporate actors in the future, including confirming the District Court's 2021 conclusions in respect of the interrelationship between climate change and human rights law.

Consistent with other climate litigation cases in recent years, the CoA decision indicates that, at least as a matter of Dutch law, companies are obligated to contribute to the mitigation of climate change and that to comply with the social standard of care they must make an appropriate contribution to achieving the emissions reduction goals of the Paris Agreement. However, companies are free to choose their own approach as to how they achieve this, and ruling can accordingly be expected to have wide implications for the energy sector, endorsing the discretion and flexibility of private players (especially those registered in the Netherlands) in developing and implementing their corporate energy transition and emissions reduction policies.

You can read our long-form detailed commentary on this decision and its implications on our ESG Insights page here.