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기사입력 : 2024.04.23 23:34
[선고일 : 2021년 5월 26일]
헤이그 법원은 원고인 '지구의벗'과 1만7천여 명의 공동 소송인단의 주장을 받아들여 로열더치쉘이 2030년까지 탄소배출을 2019년 대비 45% 감축할 것을 판결하였다.
로열더치쉘은 1988-2015 기간 중 전세계에서 9번째로 많은 탄소를 배출한 기업으로 분석된다.
온실가스 배출량의 83%가 석유, 가스, 석탄 등 전통 에너지 기업의 화석연료에 비롯되었다는 분석이 있다.
이번 판결은 법원이 민간기업의 파리협정에 따른 탄소배출 감축 의무 결정을 내린 중대한 사건으로 평가된다.
또한, 주요 탄소배출 기업들에게도 향후 영향을 줄 것으로 전망된다.
이번 소송의 이유는 네덜란드 민법과 EU조약의 '생명권과 가족권' 침해이다.
< Royal Dutch Shell to cut carbon emissions by 45% >
Oil giant told plans should be brought into line with Paris climate agreement
A court in the Hague has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared with 2019 levels, in a landmark case brought by Friends of the Earth and over 17,000 co-plaintiffs.
The oil giant’s sustainability policy was found to be insufficiently “concrete” by the Dutch court in an unprecedented ruling that will have wide implications for the energy industry and other polluting multinationals.
The Anglo-Dutch company was told it had a duty of care and that the level of emission reductions of Shell and its suppliers and buyers should be brought into line with the Paris climate agreement.
Shell had said in February it would accelerate the transition of its business to net-zero emissions, including targets to reduce the carbon intensity of energy products by 6-8% by 2023, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and 100% by 2050.
But lawyers for the plaintiffs successfully argued that the company had been aware for decades of the dangerous consequences of CO2 emissions and its targets remained insufficiently robust.
It was claimed that Shell was breaching article 6:162 of the Dutch civil code and violating articles 2 and 8 of the European convention on human rights – the right to life and the right to family life – by causing a danger to others when alternative measures could be be taken.
The court ruled that there were indeed obligations under both Dutch law and the convention and that the company had known for “a long time” about the damage of carbon emissions.
While the company had not acted unlawfully, the court said it had established that there would be an “imminent violation of the reduction obligation”.
It added that company’s “policy intentions and ambitions for the Shell group largely amount to rather intangible, undefined and non-binding plans for the long-term”.
It found they were “dependent on the pace at which global society moves towards the climate goals of the Paris agreement”, allowing it to move more slowly, and that the “emissions reduction targets for 2030 are lacking completely”.
Shell had argued that there was no legal basis for the case and that governments alone are responsible for meeting Paris targets. The court found that “since 2012 there has been broad international consensus about the need for non-state action, because states cannot tackle the climate issue on their own”.
ⓒ 기후변화경제_탄소중립경제데일리 & www.ccetimes.com 무단전재-재배포금지
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