Activists behind Shell climate verdict target 30 multinationals

AMSTERDAM/LONDON, (Reuters) - The Dutch wing of environmental group Friends of the Earth, which won a landmark court case against Royal Dutch Shell last year, demanded 30 corporations publish plans for big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in a campaign launched yesterday.

Milieudefensie has set its sights on large companies with legal bases in the Netherlands, where a court ruled in May that Shell must reduce its environmental footprint.

The heads of the companies were being sent letters demanding that they provide plans outlining how they will trim emissions of the heat-trapping gases by 45% from 2019 levels by 2030. A failure to do so may result in legal action, said Peer de Rijk, policy officer at Milieudefensie.

Fourteen of the 29 groups to receive a letter replied to a Reuters request for comment and all said they were acting to reduce emissions. Shell did not receive a letter but is also part of the campaign, Milieudefensie said, referring to its court victory against the oil giant.

“We are very clear that in the end, if needed, we are willing to go to court. But of course we are hoping these companies will be moving by themselves,” De Rijk told Reuters in an interview.

“We are willing to engage in talks, but we are in a hurry as well, so we won’t accept talks for the sake of talks themselves,” he said. “Climate science is very clear. This is exactly what is needed.”

Shell is appealing against The Hague district court order to cut emissions in line with the 2015 Paris agreement.

Among leaders in finance, retailers, oil and energy majors, builders and industrial manufacturers on the list are KLM, the Dutch arm of airline Air France KLM, ABN Amro bank and supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize.