Overturning the District Court's earlier decision, The Hague appeal court ruled it was unable to determine that a "social standard of care" obligation for Shell to cut its emissions existed -- even though it owed it to Dutch citizens -- throwing out the ...

The 2021 ruling was noteworthy, as it was the first time a court made a private company obey the 2015 Paris Agreement in addition to Dutch law. However, the appeals court judge said that while Shell had an obligation to reduce emissions,

A lower court had ordered the company to cut emissions by 45 percent by 2030, but the oil giant argued that a single firm should not be hit with arbitrary pollution-reduction requirements.

Shell is not obliged to dramatically reduce its planet-heating pollution by 2030, a Dutch appeals court ruled Tuesday, overturning a previous verdict that imposed steep carbon emissions reductions on the British oil and gas giant.

A Dutch appeals court on Tuesday overturned a landmark ruling that ordered energy company Shell to cut its carbon emissions by net 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.