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Dutch court to rule on Shell appeal against landmark climate order

A Dutch court will decide on Tuesday whether to support a landmark climate ruling against Shell, which in 2021 bought the oil and gas business to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The judgment by The Hague district court purchased Shell to cut its absolute carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, consisting of those brought on by the use of its products.

The appeals court in The Hague can either uphold or dismiss the whole ruling, or it can modify it, for example by excluding emissions triggered by Shell's consumers.

The judgment comes as the COP29 climate summit happens in Baku, Azerbaijan.

No matter the outcome, Tuesday's verdict is not expected to be the end of the case, as both sides can release a further appeal at the Netherlands' Supreme Court.

Shell has stated the ruling would require it to diminish its company without any advantage to the fight versus environment change, as clients would merely move to other providers.

In appeal hearings previously this year, Shell argued that demands for companies to decrease emissions could not be made by courts, however only by states.

Pals of the Earth Netherlands, which brought the case together with other environment groups on behalf of Dutch citizens in 2019, said it felt supported by a current European Court of Human Being Rights judgment, which had validated that climate change is a. human rights problem.

In the initial ruling, judges said that Shell's climate. policy was not concrete and filled with conditions, and that the. business risked breaking its responsibility to lower emissions.

The court for that reason bought Shell to reduce its outright. levels of carbon emissions, while Shell's own intensity-based. targets might still permit the company to grow its output in. theory.

When the case was brought Shell, which is a British business,. had a head office in The Hague.

Shell states it is now well on track to satisfy the court order. for its own production, where emissions were 30% below 2016. levels last year. The business has in recent years downsized. operations in renewables, but it plans to invest $10-15 billion. between 2023 and 2025 in low-carbon energy.

Previously this year it compromised targets for the products it. offers, to a 15-20% reduction in net carbon intensity by 2030. relative to 2016, while it retired a previous target to lower. its carbon strength by 45% by 2035.

The appeals court in The Hague will begin reading its judgment. on Tuesday at 0700 GMT.

(source: Reuters)