The responsibility of oil corporations to mitigate climate change: An analysis of the Milieudefensie v. Shell case.

Abstract

The consequences of continued greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere are indisputable. However, despite the fact that a largely uniform scientific community has long asked for urgency, governments have until now been reluctant to enforce legally binding legislations nationally, adhering to the climate change targets within the Paris Agreement. Consequently, the greenhouse gas emitting oil corporations, which are not governed by the international treaties, have not curtailed their emissions sufficiently. The question thus arises if oil corporations have a responsibility to mitigate climate change. This paper leverages the most recent corporate climate change litigation case, Milieudefensie v. Shell, as a case study to address this question. Despite still being subject to appeal, the case represents a groundbreaking advancement in climate change litigation against oil corporations and can thus have widespread implications on corporate activity, as well as the broader political and macroeconomic environment, highlighting both the actuality of the analysis and the potential future benefits.