Dutch legal context

Legal context: the climate case against Shell is litigated under Dutch tort law, more specifically the societal duty of care as laid down in Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. This is an open norm according to which it is unlawful to act contrary to said duty of care. Milieudefensie et al has substantiated that Shell has a duty of care to help prevent the severe risks and grave dangers of global warming beyond 1,5 °C. These risks and dangers are established by climate science and recognized by virtually all countries in the world. The District Court of The Hague decided that Shell has a duty to reduce its CO2-emissions by (net) 45% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels. To establish the duty of care, Milieudefensie et al has relied on a great number of authoritative sources (both legal and other sources, including human rights law), and many relevant facts and circumstances. A non-exhaustive summary these sources, facts and circumstances can be found in par. 31-32 of the Statement of Defence on Appeal of October 18th 2022, as well as the 172 facts and circumstances listed in par. 35 of that same document.