Climate Advocates 'Confident' in Victory as Shell Appeals Landmark Ruling

Shell appealed a case on Tuesday at The Hague that ordered the fossil fuel giant to drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions.

A Dutch court ordered the company in 2021 to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. Shell is arguing that customers will turn to other fuel suppliers if it obeys the order.

"This case has no legal basis," Shell's lawyer Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer told the court. "It obstructs the role that Shell can and wants to play in the energy transition."

"Oil and gas will play an important role in both the security of supply and affordability during the energy transition," he claimed.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands, which brought the case against Shell, said the "scientific basis" for its case has "only solidified" since the initial ruling.

"I am confident that we can once again convince the judges that Shell needs to act in line with international climate agreements," the group's lawyer Roger Cox said.

The court order affects the company as a whole, not just its operations in the Netherlands. A verdict on the appeal is expected later this year.

"Shell aims to reduce the carbon intensity of products it sells by 15-20% by 2030 from a 2016 baseline after watering down the target in March," Reutersreports. "Shell has an 'ambition' to reduce customer emissions from the use of its oil products by 15-20% by 2030 compared with 2021. Shell also aims to become a 'net zero' emissions company by 2050."

A report from last year found Shell knew about the impacts of burning fossil fuels much earlier than previously known.