Commenting on Shell’s successful appeal against a landmark climate ruling in the Netherlands, which in 2021 ordered the company to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Agnes Schim van der Loeff, the Policy Advisor on Climate Justice at ActionAid Netherlands, said:
“Today’s ruling is a disappointing setback for climate justice and for communities around the world who are least responsible for causing the climate crisis but [are] bearing the brunt of the impacts. Yet the fight is far from over. While the court ruled it cannot set a reduction target on Shell, it did confirm that companies like Shell have a responsibility to prevent climate change, which is hopeful and important.
This case has already shifted how we think about polluters like Shell and has inspired cases all over the world. Fossil fuel companies are feeling the heat, and we must keep the pressure on. The ruling also highlights the need for strong outcomes at COP29 in Baku. We cannot wait for polluters to take climate action; we need strong international agreements, and we need governments to step up and take responsibility – especially the wealthiest countries who have caused the crisis.”
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About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.
