Shell Pressed On Climate

The Dutch court in The Hague delivers a ground-breaking climate change judgment

Please read [download pdf here] the attached Tanka summary of a ground-breaking climate change judgment that was delivered by the Dutch court in The Hague on 26 May 2021 (the “Judgment”) against Royal Dutch Shell Plc (or “RDS”), the English ultimate parent company of the worldwide Shell group headquartered in the Hague. Irrespective of whether the Judgment will ultimately be upheld if appealed, this bold and brave move requires other countries as well as other material non-state parties similar to the Shell group to take notice and seriously reflect. With or without the Judgment, urgent action from large business enterprises such as the Shell group is required to timely and appropriately combat climate change.

Tanka’s mission is to create and develop portfolios of leading materials and process technologies and the legacy industries they can revitalize in order to increase efficiencies, reduce externalities and create a renewed future. The worldwide petroleum market is a legacy industry that requires an immediate transformation in the absence of which climate change will make it impossible to create a renewed future for the next generations. In particular institutional investors in all hydrocarbons urgently need to consider their investment allocation strategies to allow this necessary immediate transformation to take place. In that respect, the Judgment can be seen as the messenger, so please don’t kill the messenger!