Shell’s appeal of a Dutch court order to dramatically slash its climate pollution by 2030 kicked off Tuesday, with the oil major simultaneously arguing the world still needs fossil fuels and that requiring it to cut its pollution would interfere with its efforts to address climate change. The landmark 2021 ruling by The Hague District Court ruled Shell must reduce its carbon — from its own operations and from the consumption of its products — by 45% below 2019 levels by 2030. “Demand for oil and gas doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Roger Cox, a lawyer for Friends of the Earth Netherlands, which brought the case, said. “It is being sustained by Shell and its peers, through abundant supply.” (Reuters, AFP via Barron’s, FT $, Seeking Alpha, Bloomberg Law, Reuters explainer)
