The Duty of Care of Fossil-Fuel Producers for Climate Change Mitigation

Abstract On 26 May 2021, the District Court of The Hague (The Netherlands) passed an innovative judgment in Milieudefensie v. Royal Dutch Shell . interpreted Shell's duty care towards inhabitants Netherlands as requiring it to mitigate climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions resulting from its global operations at least 45% 2030, compared with 2019. This case comment salutes identification a corporate for mitigation but expresses scepticism regarding Court's interpretation this duty. reading objectives and science, which form basis determination requisite level action, is plagued inconsistencies. It argued here that, order determine standard applicable Shell, should have relied not only on ‘descending’ reasoning what ought be done, also ‘ascending’ accounting industry practices.