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Business Mayor
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Dutch climate campaigners vow to take Shell to court again
Climate campaigners in the Netherlands have promised to take Shell to court for a second time to force the energy company to stop developing new oil and gas projects. In a letter to Shell, the Dutch climate non-profit Milieudefensie vowed to take legal action because the company has 700 oil and gas projects in development that will continue to drive up carbon emissions despite efforts to slow global heating. It revealed its plan to return to the Dutch courts six months after the oil company successfully overturned a ruling in favour of the green group that called on Shell to reduce its emissions. It is currently waiting for a ruling from the Netherlands supreme court on the case in which Milieudefensie argued that Shell should reduce its emissions by 45% in line with the Paris climate agreement. Donald Pols, the director of Milieudefensie, said the ruling late last year had prompted the group to 'pick up the gauntlet and take Shell to court once again'. Pol said: 'At a time in which the climate crisis continues to rage on because of the actions of companies such as Shell, every new oil or gas field is simply one too many.' The court said at the time that a company could be compelled to take measures to protect the environment that go beyond current legislation. However, it added that demanding a specific percentage reduction in emissions was not realistic. Instead, the group has called for a ban on Shell's new oil and gas fields rather than setting an emissions target. Read More Long covid could cost the economy billions every year 'We simply cannot sit back and wait while Shell continues on its fossil path. Shell remains fully committed to new oil and gas fields, despite warnings from scientists that this will have disastrous consequences. Now is the critical moment to curb the climate crisis,' Pol said. A spokesperson for Shell confirmed that it had received the letter but stressed that no lawsuit has been filed. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion 'As we have said many times, what Milieudefensie wants will not advance the energy transition. As the world continues to use oil and gas to heat homes and to transport goods and people, the transition needs collaboration between governments, businesses and consumers. By working together, with effective government policies, the world can move to low-carbon products and maintain a secure supply of affordable energy,' the spokesperson added. The lawsuit is the latest legal row between Shell and climate campaigners after the oil company settled a $2.1m (£1.6m) lawsuit against Greenpeace after its campaigners boarded an oil rig as part of a peaceful protest last year. Shell in 2023 successfully quashed a lawsuit brought by the environmental law charity ClientEarth when the high court in London refused permission to bring a case against the energy company.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dutch environmentalists in fresh legal action against Shell
Dutch climate activists have launched a new lawsuit against British oil and gas company Shell to stop the development of new oil and gas fields. ""We demand that Shell immediately stop developing new oil and gas fields," the director of the organization Milieudefensie (Environmental Defence), Donald Pols, said in Amsterdam on Tuesday. The extraction of fossil fuels from new fields would have catastrophic consequences for the climate, Pols said. In an initial lawsuit, the climate activists had demanded a comprehensive reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and won a historic victory in the first instance in The Hague. However, this was overturned on appeal in 2024. The plaintiffs are now focusing on new gas and oil fields, citing the judges in the appeal proceedings. They had stated that Shell had a special responsibility for protecting the climate and that investments in new fields could potentially violate this. In 2021, civil judges in the first instance ordered Shell to comprehensively reduce its CO2 emissions, including indirect emissions, meaning those of suppliers and customers. However, on appeal, the judges ruled that this was not enforceable. The climate activists appealed to the High Council, the highest court, in February. It is unclear when a ruling will be made. The lawsuit was filed in the Netherlands because Shell also had headquarters in The Hague at the time the lawsuit was filed. The climate case attracted worldwide attention. The company has not yet responded to the new suit. However, Shell was confident after winning the appeal. "We are convinced that we will also be vindicated," Dutch Shell chief executive Frans Evert said.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Dutch climate campaigners vow to take Shell to court again
Climate campaigners in the Netherlands have promised to take Shell to court for a second time to force the energy company to stop developing new oil and gas projects. In a letter to Shell, the Dutch climate non-profit Milieudefensie vowed to take legal action because the company has 700 oil and gas projects in development that will continue to drive up carbon emissions despite efforts to slow global heating. It revealed its plan to return to the Dutch courts six months after the oil company successfully overturned a ruling in favour of the green group that called on Shell to reduce its emissions. It is currently waiting for a ruling from the Netherlands supreme court on the case in which Milieudefensie argued that Shell should reduce its emissions by 45% in line with the Paris climate agreement. Donald Pols, the director of Milieudefensie, said the ruling late last year had prompted the group to 'pick up the gauntlet and take Shell to court once again'. Pol said: 'At a time in which the climate crisis continues to rage on because of the actions of companies such as Shell, every new oil or gas field is simply one too many.' The court said at the time that a company could be compelled to take measures to protect the environment that go beyond current legislation. However, it added that demanding a specific percentage reduction in emissions was not realistic. Instead, the group has called for a ban on Shell's new oil and gas fields rather than setting an emissions target. 'We simply cannot sit back and wait while Shell continues on its fossil path. Shell remains fully committed to new oil and gas fields, despite warnings from scientists that this will have disastrous consequences. Now is the critical moment to curb the climate crisis,' Pol said. A spokesperson for Shell confirmed that it had received the letter but stressed that no lawsuit has been filed. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion 'As we have said many times, what Milieudefensie wants will not advance the energy transition. As the world continues to use oil and gas to heat homes and to transport goods and people, the transition needs collaboration between governments, businesses and consumers. By working together, with effective government policies, the world can move to low-carbon products and maintain a secure supply of affordable energy,' the spokesperson added. The lawsuit is the latest legal row between Shell and climate campaigners after the oil company settled a $2.1m (£1.6m) lawsuit against Greenpeace after its campaigners boarded an oil rig as part of a peaceful protest last year. Shell in 2023 successfully quashed a lawsuit brought by the environmental law charity ClientEarth when the high court in London refused permission to bring a case against the energy company.
Euronews
13-05-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Shell threatened with a new climate lawsuit in the Netherlands
Shell has been threatened with another round of legal action in the Netherlands for continuing to develop oil and gas projects around the world. In a letter sent to Shell today, NGO Milieudefensie accuses the company of breaching its legal duty of care under Dutch law by not dramatically reducing its investments in fossil fuels and not putting in place what it considers an adequate climate strategy for the coming decades. It plans to take Shell to court if these issues are not addressed. 'We as a society can no longer accept that a company like Shell determines our future without us having any say in it,' says Milieudefensie director Donald Pols. The action builds on another lawsuit that Milieudefensie - the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth - is still embroiled in with Shell over its climate targets up to 2030. Last year, Shell managed to overturn a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court, which in 2021 had ordered it to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by the end of the decade. It had been the first such ruling against a company in the world. Milieudefensie appealed and the case is now at the Dutch Supreme Court. But although the appeal court refused to set a specific legal climate goal it did rule that Shell has a 'special responsibility' to cut its emissions as a big oil company. And it said it was 'reasonable to expect oil and gas companies to take into account the negative consequences of a further expansion of the supply of fossil fuels for the energy transition also when investing in the production of fossil fuels. Shell's planned investments in new oil and gas fields may be at odds with this.' Milieudefensie is seizing on this statement to justify its latest legal threat. It notes that, despite increasing its volume of renewables, Shell is still planning to develop hundreds of new oil and gas fields. The company has projects already under construction in North America, the Middle East and Africa and, according to a new report by Milieudefensie and Global Witness, it owns or partly owns another 700 undeveloped assets. In a report to investors in March, Shell said it planned to increase production and sales of fossil fuels until well into the 2030s. The International Energy Agency has warned against investments in any new fossil fuel extraction to enable a transition to a clean energy system, and stressed that companies should not wait for a drop in demand to reduce their supply. Pols said legal action was the only way to make this happen: 'Shell will not stop of its own accord.' Milieudefensie plans to ask the court to order Shell to stop investing in new oil and gas fields. And it wants the company to be ordered to set greenhouse gas emission targets for the years after 2030 in line with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise under 1.5C. Shell has been approached for comment. However the NGO faces legal roadblocks in pursuing this case. After the 2021 court ruling, Shell moved its headquarters from The Hague to the UK. And it could be difficult for Dutch courts to enforce an order for Shell's legal development activities outside the Netherlands. Roger Cox, lawyer for Milieudefensie, said he was confident Dutch courts would have jurisdiction because Shell is registered in the Netherlands and harm is being caused to Dutch society. And he said a ruling in Milieudefensie's favour could be implemented through enforcement treaties with other countries around the world. 'It doesn't matter where Shell is,' says Cox. 'The international assets of Shell - be they fossil assets, bank accounts, whatever - will give us a lot more grip on their equity.' Sjoukje van Oosterhout, head of research at Milieudefensie, says a positive ruling in this case would have big repercussions for Shell but would also give a 'very clear signal' to governments, financial institutions and insurance companies. 'The impact of this case could really be enormous.' The world's best banana growing areas are at risk from the climate crisis, a new report warns. Latin America and the Caribbean currently export around 80 per cent of bananas globally, filling supermarket shelves with the world's favourite fruit. But 60 per cent of the region's most suitable banana growing areas could be lost by 2080 due to rising temperatures and extreme weather, according to research from international development charity Christian Aid. 'Climate change is impacting banana farmers around the world, who are battling daily with unpredictable weather patterns, scorching sun, floods, hurricanes, and increased pests and diseases,' says Anna Pierides, Fairtrade Foundation's senior sustainable sourcing manager for bananas. The banana is beloved globally, but is of special importance to some of the world's poorest people. More than 400 million people rely on bananas for 15 to 27 per cent of their daily calories, making it the fourth most important food crop after wheat, rice and maize. 'Climate change has been killing our crops. This means there is no income because we cannot sell anything,' says Aurelia Pop Xo, a 53-year-old banana grower in Guatemala. 'What is happening is that my plantation has been dying. So, what has been happening, is death.' The climate crisis is hitting banana plantations in myriad ways. Bananas need a temperature range of between 15-35°C to thrive, but are also very sensitive to water shortages, the report states. Storms are a big problem as they shred leaves, making it harder for the crop to photosynthesise. Fungal infections are also an increasing threat due to rising temperatures, with one such disease, Fusarium Tropical Race 4, causing the loss of entire plantations. 'Without systemic change, we risk witnessing the devastation of the Cavendish banana [the dominant variety] to Fusarium Tropical Race 4, a fungal infection that attacks the roots of plants and can lead to the complete loss of farms and plantations,' explains Holly Woodward-Davey, project coordinator at Banana Link, which works across the banana supply chain. 'The disease is now found in key supplier countries of European supermarkets, such as Colombia and Peru.' For Aurelia in Guatemala, the greatest threat her community faces is the high heat, which has struck for two years in a row, leaving her banana trees 'folding down and dying'. 'In the past, there was a prediction that this would happen in the future, but it has come earlier, and this is because we are not taking care of our motherland, our ecosystems, and this is very worrying for our kids and especially for our grandkids,' she adds. Christian Aid, food campaigners and experts are calling for action at different levels to protect the popular fruit and those who cultivate it. To tackle the issue at its root, richer, polluting nations must urgently reduce their carbon emissions, the development agency says. As part of the Paris Agreement, countries will this year submit new national climate action plans, which will update their emissions reduction targets, notes Osai Ojigho, director of policy and campaigns at Christian Aid. 'This is a huge opportunity for countries to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy whilst also ensuring climate finance reaches people in desperate need of it,' she says. 'World leaders must not slip up.' Christian Aid is also calling for banana growers and agricultural communities to receive targeted support from international climate finance to adapt to the changing climate. Meanwhile, consumers are being urged to help by choosing Fairtrade produce, which ensures a greater amount is paid to farmers. 'The UK has among the highest per capita consumption of bananas in Europe, yet our legacy of low supermarket prices only serves to devalue bananas,' argues Pierides. 'With the increasing effects of climate change and rising costs, we must make sure banana farmers aren't left paying the price for our low-cost fruit.' Seeking out organic bananas also helps counter the high use of chemical fertilisers in the production of the fruit, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and can damage local ecosystems. 'The climate crisis and the associated biodiversity crisis demand a rethink of industrial food production systems, which depend on the use of increasing amounts of harmful chemicals,' says Woodward-Davey. The ubiquitous curvy yellow fruit that springs to mind when we think of bananas is actually only one variety of the species: the Cavendish. It is named after William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire in England, who received a shipment of them from Mauritius in 1834 and proceeded to have his gardener cultivate them in the greenhouses of his stately home, Chatsworth House. The cultivars were shipped around the world, and became the top banana in the 1950s when Panama disease devastated the Gros Michel ('Big Mike') variety which formerly held that position. It was initially assumed that Cavendish cultivars were more resistant to the disease, but recent outbreaks of Panama disease TR4 in the Caribbean and elsewhere have upended that hope. Since Cavendish bananas are unable to reproduce sexually and are propagated via identical clones, their genetic diversity is very low, rendering them vulnerable to disease. With climate change exacerbating the spread of TR4, experts like Sally Musungu - an environmental researcher with the Schlumberger Foundation - think we 'urgently need to move beyond the Cavendish and explore the rich genetic diversity within banana species'. 'Fortunately, a rich pool of genetic diversity exists within banana species, including hundreds of under-researched varieties with potentially valuable climate-resilient traits,' she says. 'By exploring this genetic diversity and leveraging emerging tools such as gene editing, we can accelerate the development of new banana varieties that can better serve farmers and adapt to future climate conditions.'
