Is the Glass Half Full? Climate Litigation (Hidden) Lessons from the Milieudefensie v. Shell Appeal Case

Resumen

On 12 November 2024, The Hague Court of Appeal in Shell v. Milieudefensie overturned the preceding 2021 judgment which obliged Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions resulting from its global operations by 45%, relative to 2019 levels, by 2030. Indeed, the Court found that Shell's violation of legal obligations had not been sufficiently demonstrated in relation to its Scope 1 and 2 emissions and refused to affirm a concrete reduction target by 2030 of  Shell's Scope 3 emissions.

While the verdict cannot be celebrated as a success from a climate justice's perspective, the legal reasoning of the Court of Appeal provides some important takeaways concerning the doctrine of the indirect horizontal effect of human rights, the relevance attributed to EU climate legislation and the consequences of projected investments in new oil and gas fields.

The present contribution focuses on these aspects, with a view to highlighting the major implications and the positive impact they may have for future climate litigation action.