June 3, 2021

Climate dispute: why oil giant Shell lost the case to environmentalists

The Hague Court considered the case of environmentalists against the Royal Dutch Shell oil and gas company. For the first time in history, a judge issued an order to industrialists for 45% carbon emissions reduction by 2030.

The lawsuit against Shell was filed by 17 environmentalists and seven public organizations. The corporation was accused of violation of its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, namely, of causing a huge negative impact to climate change. They went to court to enforce cuts in Shell's emissions.

This is the first time in world practice when a mining company is made responsible for CO2 emissions. The court did not order any finance penalties to the oil giant, but only obliged it to reduce emissions throughout the supply chain. Activists reacted positively to the news, calling it a "historic verdict."

The company representatives said that climate change is a common problem of society, therefore it is unpractical to demand from one individual player a reduction in emissions.

"What happened to Shell should be considered in terms of violating the "limit of tolerance" that the company had. The International Court issued a ruling, where it stated that the violation had occurred and that it was causing consequences. Shell is an indicator that the regulator and the legislation requirements on compliance with the law on greenhouse gas emissions are working. Oil and gas companies are required to comply with these requirements. In particular, this applies to those companies, who will go to the northern shelf. For its part, Russia also understands this," - Rashit Zingashin, lawyer commented to "Ecology of Russia" .

Alexey Karnaukhov, a climatologist, researcher at the Institute of Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences is sure that today it is not so difficult for mining companies to reduce CO2 emissions; they have the necessary developed technologies for this. He gave a list of the main climate "pollutants".

"Compared to the conventional oil mining, mining of shale oil is much more "dirty". The method releases methane. There is also bitumen oil, which is mined in Canada and Venezuela, as well as heavy gas in Siberia. And coal mining cannot be compared within this context at all. In my opinion, so far all the activities aimed at controlling climate change, unfortunately, are not giving serious results," he added.

Source: https://ecologyofrussia.ru/neftegazovaya-kompaniya-sud-klimat/

Translated by Muhiddin Ganiev