Courts are stepping in where politicians fear to tread — forcing governments and companies to take radical action to slash greenhouse gas emissions. In a landmark ruling on Wednesday, a Dutch court ordered the oil giant Shell to cut its emissions by 45 percent this decade. The ruling marks the first time a court has mandated such a policy on a major energy company and, crucially, establishes Shell's responsibility for the environmental damage caused by its products and a failure to adequately plan to reduce its emissions. “The courts are having to step in to address the legal implications of glaring policy failures,” said Paul Benson, a lawyer with ClientEarth, an NGO. “If government policy and corporate policy ... was already sufficiently adequate, there wouldn’t be much of a role for courts to play." Such cases are increasingly common. About 3,000 have been filed since 2000, and their pace is expected to grow as concern rises about climate change, according to a new report from Verisk Maplecroft, a risk consultancy."The 2020s are a key decade for climate action. Therefore, sovereigns and corporates should expect more climate lawsuits to come down the line," the report said, noting that "companies risk fines reminiscent of tobacco trials."
