THE HAGUE: Climate campaigners marched to Shell’s headquarters in the Netherlands on Friday and handed the oil giant a lawsuit aimed at forcing it to meet targets in the Paris accord.

Dozens of chanting activists went to the Anglo-Dutch firm’s base in The Hague, where they delivered a legal summons with a court date set for April 17.

“This is a unique case,” Roger Cox, lawyer for Dutch climate group Milieudefensie, said. “We are taking Shell to court because it’s not keeping to the aims of the Paris climate agreements. This way we are trying to prevent huge damage.” The environmental groups say some 17,200 people have registered as co-complainants in the case, which Cox said would be the first of its kind.

Other groups involved in the case include ActionAid Netherlands, Both Ends, Fossielvrij NL, Greenpeace NL and Young Friends of the Earth NL.

In a summary of the 250-page document handed over to Shell, the groups said that under Dutch law Shell was unlawfully endangering peoples’ lives by not acting to prevent global warming.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2019