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Duty Of Care The Climate Trials 2022
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00:28Transcription by CastingWords
00:30Take a look at this.
00:32These are two future global temperature models calculated at the German Climate Computing Center.
00:38To me, this really seems all you need to know to make a simple choice.
00:43On the left is the moderately optimistic scenario with forceful and swift climate measures to keep the world's temperature somewhat
00:50under control.
00:51To the right, the business-as-usual scenario for a world that would still be powered by fossil fuels without
00:58climate action or a global plan for a sustainable planet that we could all still live and thrive on.
01:05Do we then really need more frightening images of cataclysmic floods, biblical droughts or raging wildfires?
01:18Yet politicians still don't seem to be able to address, let alone tackle the problem.
01:23And the big polluters, well, they can keep on polluting legally, because so far there's no law against provoking climate
01:29change or wrecking our planet for that matter.
01:34My name is Nick Balthazar, I'm a Belgian TV and filmmaker, and ever since I saw Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth,
01:41and helped procreate these two young Belgians, I've been a worried man.
01:46And a pretty frustrated climate activist, because whatever we did, however we protested, nothing seemed to be able to slam
01:54the brakes on our crazy race towards the ecological abyss.
02:01Then, with a small group of tired and slightly despondent activists, we met this fascinating Dutch lawyer, Roger Cox, and
02:10he had this wonderfully refreshing idea to tackle the climate crisis.
02:16Luckily, we have a wise woman we can turn to. It's Lady Justice.
02:20She has proven herself through time, and she can point us a way out of this dangerous deadlock situation by
02:27using the law.
02:29And that as such, judicial intervention can become a very positive force for the protection of people and the planet.
02:37Good morning, let you sit.
02:57From a young age, I always like to be outside.
03:02I have a strong love for nature.
03:07Walked a dog, like three times a day at least.
03:11Often took my binoculars with me to look at the birds in our surroundings, hawks and buzzards.
03:17I always love to watch birds of prey.
03:24It was something that I really loved to do, being out there.
03:30At the age of eight, I believe, I was very upset with the annual killings of baby seals in Canada,
03:40for commercial reasons for their fur.
03:45That upset me a lot when I saw that.
03:49At a certain point, I started to collect autographs as a sign of support from the members of our town,
03:58sent to the government, asking them to do something and stop that unnecessary killing.
04:06I guess some people seem destined to become activists or not.
04:10The right nature-loving kid, Roger Cox, or Roger, as the Dutch say, went on to study law to become
04:17a promising hotshot lawyer in a big Dutch law firm and fall in love with another promising young lawyer, daughter
04:24of a petroleum engineer at Shell.
04:26They got married and went on to have two lovely daughters together, and moved back to a nice house in
04:32the lush green hills of their native shire, Lemberg.
04:40We were both ambitious young lawyers when we met.
04:43I was a patrol head at the time.
04:45We were basically just living our lives and working hard.
04:50Minding our own business.
04:51Exactly.
04:52There was no hint, I would say, that at that period of time we would get involved in anything like
04:58this.
04:58Either of us, no.
04:58No, no, no.
04:59Absolutely not.
04:59The epiphany of sustainability was getting green electricity.
05:05That was it.
05:08Then, just like I did, they made the same mistake of going to see that terrifying and most inconvenient film.
05:18Our ability to live is what is at stake.
05:24That was when I sort of fell off my chair.
05:26I didn't grasp that problem at all until 2006.
05:32I really, before that time, I thought it was a non-issue, really.
05:34A bit of sea level rise wouldn't matter, that one or two degrees warmer wouldn't matter.
05:41Also being a parent of two young children, you know you have to do something because 20 years down the
05:47road they will ask me the question,
05:49well, didn't you know, and if you knew, why didn't you do anything about it?
05:53And their part, they sure did.
05:56Organizing nationwide screenings of this inconvenient truth that had shaken their lives, organizing conferences on the circular economy,
06:03Roger even writes a book, Revolution Justified, or why just maybe only the law can save us now.
06:11We started with things that were totally outside our comfort zone.
06:17We're both lawyers.
06:18I mean, it was like five full-time jobs per person.
06:22We were working day and night.
06:24It was idiotic, really.
06:26You have to find a way to do this work within the things you know, as a lawyer.
06:31And I think probably this was a little seed planted.
06:34At one point, the basic realization was that if all is true, what I'm reading here in these IPCC reports,
06:43well, this is just one big endangerment situation that is being created.
06:48And this is when we start talking about the duty of care, which is an obligation for everybody.
06:54Nobody is allowed to create dangers for others if these dangers can be prevented.
07:07Across the ocean in the US, there's another lawyer, Julia Orson.
07:11He's working on similar ideas, and with the Juliana case, files a by now historic lawsuit
07:17brought by 21 youth plaintiffs against the United States for its failure to act on climate.
07:23As temperatures increase, sea levels rise, storms become more intense and frequent,
07:28and the coral reefs and fisheries upon which we depend disappear.
07:31The oceanfront land that my family has inhabited for generations that I'm supposed to inherit
07:36will be underwater if the US federal government continues to promote a fossil fuel-based energy system.
07:41Roger Cox sent me his book, Revolution Justified, and reached out to me because he saw the work we were
07:50starting to do at Our Children's Trust
07:52and our first case against the US government.
07:55And he had been thinking along parallel lines of really using the law to protect people from the climate crisis.
08:05And so this bold theory of a climate revolution through the law is put into practice.
08:11Because together with the Urgena Foundation, and with the support of more than 900 citizens,
08:17they actually sued the Dutch government for its lack of a forceful climate policy that aligns with the Paris Agreement.
08:25The petition is a revolution in itself. Can a court force the state to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions far
08:33beyond its own targets?
08:35In the Urgena case, Roger presented the science.
08:40Something that Roger and I both have agreed upon for a long time is,
08:43we need to be telling the truth to these judges and to the public about what the scientists are saying.
08:50Roger Cox's legal theories were quite revolutionary. When I first saw his book, Revolution Justified,
08:56I loved the idea, but I was very skeptical that it would get anywhere.
09:00All other people thought it was nonsense, not possible, a PR stunt, or whatever they have said in the press.
09:07A lot of professors who said to newspapers, this is impossible, and blah, blah, blah.
09:12Well, it might seem an aggressive deed to sue your own government, but I think that giving short-term politics,
09:20and giving how media operates, etc., the courtroom is really the only place in society where you cannot just say
09:28anything that you want.
09:29Anything that you say needs to be backed up with evidence.
09:32And then, a district court in The Hague, city of peace and justice, white history.
09:38The Court has warned the state that the pollution in the Netherlands in the year 2020 will be reduced
09:45with at least 25% in terms of the year 1990.
09:49And that's amazing!
09:58It's unbelievable.
10:01I've worked so hard for this business.
10:04It is so big and cultural importance to it.
10:10I can't do anything without any professionalism.
10:15When the decision came out I practically fell off my chair.
10:19It was the first time any court in the world had said that there is a right to a safe
10:26climate
10:27system and then to go the next step and tell the government that it had to reduce greenhouse
10:34gas emissions.
10:35It was a revolutionary decision.
10:37And every time I see it I get tears in my eyes because it's such a special moment.
10:42And what it demonstrated is that judges say yes, the government has knowingly endangered
10:50its people.
10:52It felt like the dam had broken somehow.
10:55After all of those cases and all of that time that was spent with a lot of lawyers around
11:00the world trying to work this out, a switch had flicked, if you will, and the system was
11:04going to change.
11:05Within half an hour it was all over the world.
11:08It inspired lawyers and activists all around the world and it has inspired some judges
11:13to take further action, bolder than anyone thought that they would really take.
11:21The part of Asia that my family is from and much of my family continues to live in, which
11:26is Bangladesh, is at the forefront of the impacts of climate change.
11:32That was the sort of backdrop to hearing about the agenda decision.
11:37And it just seemed like such a huge breakthrough and I thought, you know, this is exactly the
11:42kind of thing that we need if we're going to really have meaningful accountability for the
11:49promises that governments have made year on year to take the climate crisis seriously
11:53but have completely failed to deliver on.
12:04And so this is where Roger's ideas spill over to neighboring countries like Belgium and where
12:10I even enter the story.
12:12Because after hearing about the inspirational consequences of the Urgena outcome, eleven concerned
12:18citizens in Belgium, me being one of them, decide to start up their own climate case against
12:23the Belgian government.
12:25All governments.
12:26We have several in Belgium, you should know.
12:29Actually, your biggest fear would be that, despite a solid issue from a legal perspective,
12:37a lawyer does not dare to follow that line.
12:40Yeah, Roger is a real hero.
12:45He's like the guy from The Insider fighting the tobacco industry on his own.
12:50He's been at it since ten years.
12:53And now around the world, what he initiated resonates.
12:58He's helping us and teams around the world in getting their acts together.
13:04He set something in motion that cannot be stopped and upon which I think we will look back as,
13:10you know, being really a pivotal defining moment in climate action.
13:17And as our Belgian climate case is joined by no less than 58,000 co-plaintiffs, other countries
13:23all around the world follow suit.
13:25From Canada to Colombia, from New Zealand to Ireland and Norway, similar cases are brought
13:30to court.
13:31In Switzerland, it's senior women.
13:34In Portugal, youth.
13:35In France, celebrities, often rallying thousands of co-claimers.
13:41But maybe one of the most remarkable stories in climate litigation starts here, on the tiny
13:46German island of Pellworm in the Baltic Sea.
13:49It's a story of young farmers trying to protect their family farm against the rising seas by
13:54taking the German government to the constitutional court, where eventually they're joined by the
14:00thousands of young climate activists that are taking to the streets, fired up by the charismatic
14:05Louisa Neubauer.
14:07The Buxon family live on this island.
14:10They have a farm.
14:12And this is something with a deadline, really.
14:15Because given the current scenarios and the climate crisis, at some point on this island,
14:22you won't be able to farm anymore.
14:24They will effectively have to fight with this front line that is right in front of that
14:30doorstep, really.
14:33And that's really exciting that these cases are not just a single plaintiff, they're broad
14:40coalitions of youth, grandmothers, mums, you know, ordinary people, NGOs, think tanks
14:46coming together.
14:47Demand for justice has to be made for justice to be delivered.
14:52You know, it's not just something that's sort of like Moses comes down from the mountain
14:57with two tablets and here, ta-da, here they are.
14:59You know, justice is actually made.
15:01Laws are made as much by citizens demanding that justice is done.
15:06In the Dutch agenda case, the verdict is, as they say, provisionally enforceable, meaning
15:11the Dutch government has to take immediate measures and actually starts closing down coal-fired
15:16power plants and making major new investments in renewable energy.
15:20Still, at the same time, the state decides to appeal the judgment and upon losing for a
15:26second time, they finally turn to the Supreme Court.
15:33The Supreme Court decides that the order to the Dutch state issued by the district court
15:41and confirmed by the court of appeal is definitively upheld.
15:55But then, again, just to win that appeal, it just kind of really solidified the outcome.
16:00When I first heard about cases like Roger's case, I kind of thought this was a very symbolic
16:05thing to do.
16:06I didn't quite grasp the magnitude of what those court cases could be.
16:11Governments had decided what's an appropriate level of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
16:16The court said, at that level of reduction, we're going to have a global catastrophe.
16:22A greater warming of the earth can have very dangerous consequences, such as extreme heat
16:29or dryness, extreme destruction, destroying ecosystems and increasing the windfall.
16:39This warming can also lead to climate change, where the climate changes and changes greatly.
16:48By this all, the life, the well-being, and the living environment are threatened, worldwide and
16:58also in Netherlands.
17:05What always made this story even more fascinating to me is that this fierce climate lawyer married
17:11into a deeply rooted shell family.
17:13His wife, Saskia, being the daughter of a lifelong petroleum engineer at Royal Dutch Shell.
17:20He sadly passed away a few years ago, but Roger's mother-in-law is still very much alive.
17:27This are all shell people.
17:29So that was one big clique.
17:31In all the countries where we were, Venezuela, Nigeria, Turkey.
17:37Porno, Porno, ja.
17:38And Sarawak.
17:40Yeah.
17:42It was in a good time.
17:43So what that means we had a lot of trouble.
17:46You were ready for the shell.
17:47You were just dead.
17:48You were just dead.
17:49I think later, when the environment is very bad, you think you're thinking about it.
17:57You're saying you're doing great things.
17:59That doesn't matter to our shell.
18:02I think many people who worked there were also proud to build something there.
18:07And soon later, it fell down to a quarter of a half.
18:10It's good to realize that at the end of the 1980s, and also in the 1990s, Shell didn't put money
18:17into the banks.
18:19That climate change is a problem.
18:22And that their products bring to it.
18:24And they also gave the signals that they wanted to bring responsibility for.
18:30There is a climate film that Shell has already made in the 1980s.
18:35I don't know that.
18:37I don't know that.
18:38No.
18:38That is the first climate film that has ever been made.
18:41Yeah.
18:42Shell has shown itself in that film for climate change.
18:48These models contain many uncertainties.
18:51But they forecast that by 2050, global mean temperature could have increased by at least a degree and a half.
18:59Possibly near a fall.
19:02If the threat of global warming is to be realistically addressed, the future will need to be different.
19:09And then they were working with change within Shell.
19:12And there are all kinds of projects that have been created, renewable energy projects within Shell.
19:18And later, in the beginning of 2000, all of them are stopped within Shell.
19:25And that is very important.
19:27That the evidence that Shell has made, has not so much related to the 80s and the beginning of the
19:3490s.
19:35But that the knowledge that we had then, and that we actually wanted to use, in the years later,
19:44with that knowledge, has just on the wrong side.
19:47And finally, in 2009, it became the most destructive CO2 companies in the world.
19:55Then came the Paris Agreement, where the whole world vowed to globally reduce emissions to net zero by 2050.
20:02But in Holland, Shell's CEO Ben van Buurden had this reaction in a by now almost infamous interview on Dutch
20:10TV.
20:10In our sector, we will deliver what the society asks for us.
20:18The society asks for a doubling of energy.
20:21And we need to be able to do so efficiently and as well as possible as possible.
20:25And that is our plan.
20:26I constate that that doesn't mean that you don't want less oil and gas to pump.
20:31I want to pump everything that I can pump up to the question,
20:34to fulfill the question.
20:38But do you have to do a contribution?
20:40Or does Paris have no effect on your business?
20:44Yes, of course.
20:45And that contribution will be mainly in the first,
20:49of the realistic realistic legislation.
20:53So that's what we have said.
20:55But the most helpful is to pump less oil and gas.
20:59No, I don't think so.
21:00The best is to burn less oil and gas.
21:03And burn less steel.
21:05I was watching it and said, well, this is the last straw of evidence,
21:10as far as I'm concerned, that we need in order to start suing this company.
21:15We're in the business of making money.
21:18It doesn't matter if we ruin the world by doing that.
21:22They shy away from any responsibility.
21:24Make sure that the consumer feels that responsibility.
21:27But obviously the consumer can do nothing about that systemic change or little.
21:32And these are the big players who rule whether or not these systems will change.
21:37We need to create a lever again to pressure this and similar companies.
21:45Even if we accept there's maybe some public duty of care on a state,
21:49how can you try to make that same case against a private company like Shell?
21:55Royal Dutch Shell emits many times the amount of CO2 that the whole Dutch society does.
22:01About 2% of all global emissions are related to Royal Dutch Shell.
22:05So in a way they're even bigger than most countries.
22:08So you don't take them at their word when they say,
22:10Shell wants to be a green energy company.
22:13They've set their own targets.
22:15Ah, they've said this from the 1990s already.
22:18Shell even had large advertisements in the Financial Times, et cetera,
22:22stating, well, we have to move away from oil and gas and into renewables.
22:26So here it is, Shell Renewables.
22:28And a few years later, they shifted their investment to star sands and shale gas and what have you.
22:33So no, their word is far from good enough.
22:36And so in April 2019, the summons is delivered to the Shell headquarters
22:41with the support of six other NGOs, more than 17,000 citizen co-claimants
22:46and Roger's three young associates.
22:50From the moment I became a mother, this case became also a personal for me.
22:56I felt a strong responsibility to do something.
23:01The world is on fire, so to speak.
23:03All hands are on deck.
23:05And it's quite obvious that we have to do something really new.
23:09It would be a breakthrough in so many legal areas
23:13that it's quite difficult to envision winning.
23:16But it would be a huge leap forward.
23:18And that makes it perhaps a bit unreal to me.
23:27He doesn't have the kind of legal resources, obviously, that Shell do.
23:30You know, these phalanxes of lawyers, these hugely expensive legal firms that they hire,
23:35and many, many of them.
23:36And I think that's one of the things that really needs to be addressed here,
23:39is this is public interest law and it shouldn't be decided on the basis of who has access to the
23:44most money.
23:44It should be decided on who's bringing the right case.
23:48The big fossil fuel companies, who are among the richest, most powerful companies in the world,
23:53have been incredibly well positioned, not just to fight these cases in court,
23:57but also to shape laws and policies themselves.
24:00If you look at the examples of the tobacco companies,
24:04that was how they managed to keep that litigation at bay for so long,
24:08was just the scale of the resources they could bring.
24:11We're now in the same position with the connection between CO2 and climate change.
24:15There's no question on the science.
24:17It hasn't been, you know, for over a century.
24:19And yet, here we are, emissions are still rising.
24:31Sometimes, all of a sudden, you notice that there's some anger creeping into those words.
24:39But you want to be in cases based on arguments, not on emotions, obviously.
24:43When I was studying law, corporate law, business as such,
24:47which was much more appealing to me at that particular time than any social issue whatsoever,
24:53I also could have become a person like Ben van Burden, for sure.
24:57But I'm a lawyer.
24:59I'm looking at it from a legal perspective, from an aspect of human rights and the duty of care.
25:05Is this what a prudent man should do, given all the information that is out there?
25:11And we're saying from now on, there is no way that you can,
25:15from a norms and value approach, you can excuse yourself from following that path.
25:22No way.
25:22Organisations like Shell, and Total, and BP, and ExxonMobil,
25:27and their industry associations have spent all their money blocking this transformation.
25:32These big players need to be forced to change.
25:48If only filming the outside of Shell's headquarters poses a problem,
25:53getting anyone there to speak to us, let alone CEO Ben van Burden,
25:57after months of trying hard, seems to be out of the question.
26:00So I guess we'll have to hear or see them in court.
26:04Sure done, Amish.
26:05Good job.
26:06Success.
26:11Roger and I read his book many years ago, and totally agree that actually these companies are complicit,
26:19and they have willingly covered up climate evidence.
26:23They knew that their toxic product was causing and would cause huge amounts of damage,
26:28and they carried on regardless.
26:30So I hope there is a court brave enough to recognise that,
26:35and that the demand for justice will be met.
26:41A lot of the cases are about trying to recover money damages from companies that have profited off of the
26:50destruction of the planet.
26:52And Roger's new case against Shell, it's trying to compel these companies to also force a decline in emissions,
27:02and to begin a transition to a different model of doing business.
27:14You realise what you started.
27:16That you started a court case against a multi-billion company that has the resources to invest in the best
27:24lawyers
27:25and the best researchers in the world to ensure that they win.
27:3125 companies are responsible for 50% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
27:38And if the judge orders Shell to take its responsibility to reduce climate change,
27:46it will be the first step to address all of the biggest polluters that are currently outside of the global
27:53climate action.
28:05And of they went in this bizarre Covid courtroom for four long days of impressively thorough hearings.
28:13Shell's most important point, how could the claimants prove that the consequences of climate change are the result of the
28:20operations of Royal Dutch Shell?
28:22Or in short, RDS.
28:25De samenleving als geheel stoot CO2 uit.
28:28Het risico op gevaarlijke klimaatverandering is dus het gevoel van het handelen van iedereen in de samenleving en niet alleen
28:33van RDS.
28:34Het gebruik van olie en gas is vooralsnog essentieel voor het functioneren van de samenleving.
28:38Maar dat betekent dus niet dat RDS niet feitelijk ambities heeft die verder rijken dan dat.
28:44Het is goed gezegd niet zo dat Shell stil zit hangende overheidsbeleid.
28:49Hoeveel stappen je kan zetten en hoe ver je kan gaan hangt wel uiteindelijk echt met dat beleid samen.
28:54But then the data seemed to paint another picture.
28:57De absolute emissies tussen 2016 en 2019 zijn met 5,4% toegenomen.
29:04En als je dat dan bijvoorbeeld extrapoleert tot 2035, dan kom je op een emissiegroei van 34,2% uit.
29:12Wij zien ook dat de voorgenomen investeringen in olie en gas productie tot 38% in 2030 kunnen oplopen.
29:21Terwijl er echt gewoon gedaald moet worden.
29:23De wereld kent nog maar één ding, er moeten emissies gereduceerd worden in absolute zin.
29:43Ze wijst er dan op dat wordt gewaarschuwd dat als die cascade is ingezet het klimaat nauwelijks meer terug te
29:49brengen is.
29:50Dat is wat ze noemen hothouse earth.
29:52Die stelling berust simpelweg op een verkeerde lezing van de aangehaalde bron.
29:57Dat laat onverlet dat het belang van het aanpakken van klimaatverandering buiten kuiver staat.
30:03En dat RDS haar rol in de maatschappelijke energietransitie speelt en wil spelen.
30:09Dank u wel.
30:12Er zijn zoveel meer verweren die we zelf bedacht hebben die we zouden kunnen voeren en dan is het dit.
30:17Ik denk eerlijk gezegd dat dit een fantastische ontwikkeling is.
30:20De essentie ligt erin dat de hele mondiale gemeenschap op basis van IPCC gegevens heeft aangegeven dat we die anderhalve
30:28graden niet moeten overstijgen.
30:30Dat is de mondiale consensus en dat is dus prachtig om er door te kunnen bouwen.
30:33En wat wij zeggen moeten we ook voldoende aangetoond hebben en wat zij doen is twijfelzaaien.
30:38Ja, want als er twijfel ontstaat bij de rechters dat wij...
30:42Ja, dit gaat enorm ricocheren in de richting van Shell.
30:46Hier willen ze veroordeeld worden.
30:48Ik was hier heel gelukkig geweest.
30:50Ja, nou ja, sterker nog, ik ben echt veel geruster nu.
30:57Yes baby.
31:01Het is ook niet in te zien waarom de hele wereld katastrofale klimaatveranderingen zou moeten ondergaan...
31:07...omdat het voor Shell en andere grote uitstoters van CO2 te bezwaarlijk zou zijn om te veranderen.
31:14Maar er is geen document in de wereld te vinden waarin staat dat iemand dat business as usual scenario zou
31:19willen nastreven...
31:20...met alle consequenties die daarmee verbonden zijn, behalve een aantal grote olie- en gasmajers en behalve de kolenindustrie.
31:26En we zijn allemaal met elkaar verbonden.
31:28Er is geen land en eiland, dus we gaan het allemaal ondervinden.
31:31En dat is waar deze zaak over gaat.
31:33De gedachte dat Shell beleid naar haar hand kan zetten en zo regulering voorkomt, is uit de lucht gegrepen.
31:39De rechter wordt door Milieudefensie evenwel geconfronteerd met keuzes die politiek van aard zijn en wel van stelselniveau.
31:45Die moet niet de rechter maar de politiek maken.
31:48En de vorderingen moeten worden afgewezen.
31:51Dank u wel.
31:52Goed.
32:20Goed.
32:22Het wordt vaak gezegd.
32:23Maar wat hebben we bitter weinig over die toekomst te zeggen.
32:27Beslissingen worden vaak voor ons genomen.
32:30Ook de beslissingen die hier in de rechtbank worden genomen, bepalen hoe de wereld van morgen eruit gaat zien.
32:38Nu is het moment.
32:40De beslissingen en daden in dit decennium bepalen onze toekomst.
32:44En die toekomst ziet er een stuk rooskleuriger uit als Shell echt mee gaat doen.
32:49Ik sta hier, zodat we een toekomst hebben.
32:54Dank u wel.
32:56Dank u wel.
32:57Dank u wel.
32:59We hebben even overleg gehad.
33:00We gaan het net zo kort houden als meester Cox tot nu toe zo ergens heeft gedaan.
33:04Dus daar laat RDS het dan vandaag bij.
33:0826 mei is de uitspraak daartoe.
33:19Wat een teambewerker, hè, jongen.
33:21Ja.
33:30En dan, after no less than six years, yes, six years of legal manoeuvring to stall the proceedings,
33:37our Belgian climate case finally has its day in court.
33:41The stage is the former NATO headquarters in Brussels, acting as an improvised courthouse.
33:48Sitting here in the temporary pallet justice in Brussels,
33:52it's taken us six years to get here.
33:55And we'll have nine days of hearings,
33:57and then who knows how many months before a decision.
34:00There is a long way to go, and these things are slow.
34:03Dag, Lili. Hoi.
34:05Ik ga toch even zo met een aantal mensen doen, want dan hebben dat toch maar even gehad.
34:09Maar ik denk dat wat de legale cases kunnen doen, is bring een pressie,
34:13en dat het voertuurt dat er echt een momentuut,
34:16dat dit als een legale issue is,
34:18dan het zal beginnen te veranderen.
34:22We hebben echt iets van 58,000 mensen in de gegeven.
34:27En daar zijn er echt over alle afgelopen in de populatie.
34:32En als het werkt goed, dan is het heel spektakulier.
34:35Zoals in de Nederland.
34:37Het is eigenlijk depoliticiseerd,
34:40dit hele climate action ding.
34:43Het is dangerous to speak in terms of
34:45we have the truth on our side.
34:47Wat we kunnen zeggen is
34:48we do have the evidence on our side.
34:50En de evidence is clear.
34:52En althou de window of opportunity is very small
34:55to get it solved,
34:57we should seize it,
34:58en er is a lot at stake if we don't,
34:59en er is a lot to gain if we do.
35:103 months later,
35:11the court pronounces a powerful verdict by e-mail
35:14and firmly rules that Belgium's consistent failure
35:17to meet its climate targets
35:18is indeed a violation against the duty of care
35:21and human rights,
35:23including those of all the co-plaintiffs in the case.
35:25The court did hold that the Belgian government's
35:29current actions in relation to greenhouse gas emissions
35:32are unlawful under Belgian law
35:34and every time it's incredibly important
35:37to set a precedent that other courts,
35:39other lawyers, other campaigners
35:40can be inspired by and draw upon in their own work.
35:43There is a famous quote among activists
35:45that you should never underestimate the ability
35:47of a small group of committed citizens
35:49to change the world.
35:50But to make change in the world,
35:52that small group of committed citizens need an idea.
35:55And I think the key element was
35:57the theories that Roger brought to this case.
35:59The book that you chose to write
36:01was the inspiration that you gave to the court case
36:04and to the brilliant teamwork
36:06and it's been magical to be a part of it.
36:10I think that this court ruling is a very important one,
36:14especially since this is the first case in the world
36:16where individuals are rewarded by the court for their claims.
36:20This is how ripple effects are created, I think.
36:23This is definitely something that other courts can refer to
36:27and ground their own judgments on.
36:29With some exuberance, our neighbors in France
36:32celebrate making history as well.
36:34We won!
36:35We won!
36:36We won!
36:36You won!
36:38The climate change of the state is considered illegal.
36:43With the war of the century,
36:44we come together to condemn the state for climate change.
36:50Not only Marion Cotillard and the French case of the century
36:53find favour with the courts,
36:54the number of climate cases worldwide keeps on growing.
36:58It's comparable in some ways to the days of the cases against the big tobacco companies.
37:03Those cases failed and failed and failed and failed
37:06and then they started to succeed.
37:08It feels to me like that momentum is built
37:10and that the waves are really starting to break now.
37:12Also on the island of Bellevorm,
37:14where the Baxons and the whole German climate movement
37:17have had their share of legal defeats and disappointments,
37:21Luisa gets a phone call from their lawyer.
37:23I was lying in bed and I had my phone there
37:25and I was just hearing this voice saying,
37:29Luisa, we won this.
37:33And I was speechless.
37:35I couldn't believe it.
37:37It was so unlikely that the Constitutional Court of Germany
37:40would grant us the fundamental right to climate justice.
37:45It was incredible.
37:46Beyond everything I could have imagined.
37:49I had forgotten, I think,
37:51how much it meant to people who genuinely care for the climate
37:55and who genuinely think we're losing it.
37:58And for them, it was a game changer.
38:03A very, very big win.
38:05Also the fact that the Merkel government
38:08raised their climate plans for 2030 substantially,
38:12reducing that by 65% in 2030,
38:14that really shows that a government has to be as ambitious as necessary,
38:22not as ambitious as possible,
38:24because possible is also a vague term.
38:26But as the German government raises its climate targets
38:29almost immediately and considerably,
38:31what happens on all the many levels of Belgian government?
38:35Basically, nothing.
38:36No change of plans or policy.
38:39In fact, no reaction whatsoever.
38:43It's not only frustrating,
38:45I think it's very dangerous for a democracy based on the rule of law
38:48if even politics don't take court rulings seriously.
38:52So I think that that is something that the Belgian government
38:56should not be very proud of.
38:57So was this a victory or a defeat in disguise
39:00for Team Belgian Climate's case?
39:02Because though the court did recognize
39:04that the rights of our 58,000 co-claimants
39:07had been literally infringed,
39:09still referring to the separation of powers,
39:12the judges refused to impose sanctions
39:15or a complete reduction target.
39:17And because that, of course, is what the case is all about,
39:20we are appealing.
39:23And that's where I feel the judiciary hasn't caught up.
39:26If it's still backing away,
39:28saying this is a political problem, it isn't.
39:31There is, you know, clear legal principles
39:33that have been developed over time that they can rely on.
39:38And, you know, 30 years that I've grown grey, frankly,
39:42you know, it's a lot of time for legal norms
39:45and legal rules to have developed.
39:47And it's for judges and tribunals to make those findings now.
39:59I believe we're going to win in an hour,
40:01one and a half hour's time.
40:05I hope so.
40:06Yeah.
40:06You have to create reality.
40:09Speak it into existence.
40:10Yeah.
40:14There's no question that big corporations
40:16have a lot of money to hire a lot of lawyers,
40:18but we now have a lot of very smart lawyers
40:21working on the other side.
40:30I think if they just follow the normal practices
40:33that judges have followed throughout history,
40:36which is you hear the evidence, right?
40:39And then you apply a really well settled law
40:42to a new factual circumstance.
40:45And don't be daunted by the fact
40:47that billions of people's lives,
40:50you know, are in the balance.
40:52The rechtbank beveelt RDS
40:55to, via the concern management of the show group,
40:58the CO2-dustot of the show group
41:00and of the shareholders and the shareholders
41:03of that group,
41:04eind 2030,
41:06terug te brengen
41:07met netto 45%.
41:19need
41:21per your work
41:21for people's lives.
41:24Today's stacked
41:24is not versed in thezust sua
41:25naar Philadelphia
41:29blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
41:39This was a brutal day for Big Oil.
41:42This is huge news.
41:43All of a sudden, boom!
41:45This is a groundbreaking and historical verdict, in our opinion.
41:48The first time that a large multinational company is ordered to reduce its emissions
41:53over the whole group in 80 countries.
41:56So I really think that this will have a huge impact on the energy transition.
42:03Yes, it's phenomenal.
42:05It's a historical day, it's the first time in history that the court has decided that
42:11a major pollutant should stop causing a dangerous climate change.
42:18This is really really nice.
42:21Exactly what the doctor ordered.
42:25An enormous win for the world.
42:32I don't know if it's in my opinion, but it's really a big victory.
42:40I think this is one of the most important truths in the past 50 years.
42:48I think it's a big win for the first time.
42:55Everyone has been there very hard on.
42:58There were also sleeping nights and all that sort of stuff.
43:01But if this is the victory, it's worth all the hours.
43:06And all the years, for some of us.
43:08So I know that they will be very happy to be at home.
43:11And that maybe now it's a bit calmer.
43:14So cheers, mates.
43:15Thank you very much.
43:22Thank you very much.
43:33Thank you very much.
43:46Bye-bye.
43:52Bye-bye.
43:53There are many young people who have joined us in there.
43:57And they are very careful about the future of Earth and life on Earth.
44:03And there are ramps everywhere, also with the weather.
44:06It is so evident that everything is changing.
44:10You can't recognize that, even if you would like it.
44:23For a change, not in the usual far away places,
44:27but in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, even right where Roger lives.
44:44It seems that climate change is already hitting us harder than most scientists expected.
44:51If you're not even safe anymore in your own house,
44:54if this can occur at any given moment,
44:57knowing that it will get worse anyways,
44:59we must do anything we can to make sure
45:04that this doesn't get much more out of hand.
45:09Hopefully it will be a wake-up call to many people.
45:13But I doubt that it will.
45:20Powering Progress.
45:22That's how I think about our role.
45:24That's what I believe we do and we should continue to do.
45:27And that is what I think is the case for Shell.
45:31Powering Progress sets out a strategy to accelerate the transition of our business
45:36to a net zero emissions business, purposefully and profitably.
45:42Powering Progress delivers value for our shareholders,
45:45for our customers and for wider society.
45:48And this includes supporting government policies
45:52to reduce carbon emissions sector by sector.
45:55Obviously they are changing in a few ways,
45:58but as the court has ruled, if you look at their ambitions,
46:02if you look at their action plans and see what really is happening,
46:06it's still kind of misleading.
46:07We believe the world can achieve net zero CO2 emissions to meet the goal of Paris.
46:14If industry, government and society work together to make the right choices now.
46:22The energy system must change faster.
46:25And change is opportunity.
46:28Shell is acting today to be part of this future.
46:31Then I start wondering, shouldn't we give Shell some credit?
46:35Isn't this the reaction to the verdicts one would hope for?
46:38That's just not about investing in renewables.
46:41Even in this case, it's only a small chair.
46:43It's about how much is still invested in the oil and gas sector.
46:48That's the real point.
46:49That's the issue that's also relevant in the court case.
46:52It seemed to me that they didn't take that into account whatsoever.
46:56The possibility of losing a case like this.
46:59I think that the first six weeks or something like that,
47:03there was hardly any communication whatsoever.
47:06Afterwards, they have been raising their ambitions,
47:09but still far from what is needed to be Paris aligned.
47:14But while Ben vows to accelerate transition to net zero,
47:18Shell also decides to appeal against the ruling.
47:21Because a court judgment against a single company is not effective, they argue.
47:26Again, I wonder, don't they have a point?
47:28That singling out one polluter isn't really fair?
47:33From a legal perspective, if you're violating the law,
47:37then it doesn't really matter if others are violating it as well.
47:40What matters is that you should address that violation.
47:44We have to be prepared and probably even better prepared for the next round,
47:49because they will double down on their efforts as well
47:52to make sure that this case will be overruled.
47:55And we have to be on top of our game, for sure.
48:00Then guess what?
48:02The little known Dutch attorney Roger Cox
48:04is heralded by Time magazine, no less,
48:07as one of the world's hundred most influential people of the year.
48:10And a worldwide pioneer, together with another flying climate Dutchman,
48:15European vice president, Franz Timmermans, Godfather of the European Climate Programme,
48:20who comes from the exact same small Dutch town as Roger.
48:24We are both children from the coal mining region,
48:27where people are used to working hard and speaking their minds and being very hard-headed.
48:32People like Roger Cox, they create new legal areas.
48:37If you know the history of the legal profession,
48:41very often people went into areas where others would say,
48:45that's crazy, there's no room for that.
48:47They are innovators.
48:49They don't ask why, they just ask why not.
48:53And the man who sings his praise in the Times article
48:56is none other than the man who unknowingly sent Roger on his quest,
49:00and who now also introduces him in Edinburgh at a TED event about effective climate action.
49:06Yes, it's that same Al Gore.
49:10I'm going to set the scene for a recent wave of successful lawsuits
49:14against fossil fuel companies and governments,
49:17and we'll hear more about this from Roger Cox,
49:21who led the successful lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell this year,
49:26an historic precedent-setting case requiring Shell
49:29to cut its carbon emissions quickly and dramatically.
49:33Roger Cox. Roger?
49:35Thank you for this kind introduction
49:37and for inviting me to speak today at this important event.
49:43That was kind of nice, yeah, I must admit.
49:48Things are coming full circle in that way.
49:52You're one of the most influential people of the year.
49:56So they say, yes, yes.
49:58Which is also a very nice acknowledgement for all the hard work
50:02that has been delivered by many people over the last 15 years.
50:07But there's many more cases to win,
50:11and we also have to make sure that we don't lose any of them.
50:14So it keeps us running.
50:16So yeah.
50:18But now we've got to work.
50:25After almost two years in his footsteps, I follow Roger to the city of that legendary accord, Paris,
50:31where he's working with the activist lawyers behind L'Affaire à nous tous,
50:36the case for us all, who, as we saw, celebrated an important court victory against the state as well.
50:42And now, just like Roger went after Shell, they're going after the French oil and gas giant, Total.
50:49Your activity as a company is producing oil and gas.
50:53You decide on that activity, nobody else.
50:57Total is judged by the Carbon Disclosure Project as the 19th biggest global polluter.
51:04Total is also the first big polluter in France,
51:07and is responsible for at least as many emissions of CO2 than France is.
51:12So we really hope now that the French judges will again follow the lead of the Dutch judges
51:18and say that Total must as well be held accountable in favour of the climate.
51:23We need to make the court feel comfortable with the fact that they can actually order a reduction target.
51:30They need to make sure that there is an effective remedy against any and all human rights violations.
51:36And the emission reductions is the only remedy. There is no other remedy.
51:39When you face something like a state or a big company, you feel like you have no tool.
51:45You cannot do anything against them. But law is there, climate litigation is there to raise up to the challenge.
51:52And I believe this is the future. This is the future of our legal system.
51:57We need to understand that those who do not protect the planet, those who actually harm the planet, should be
52:03held accountable for that.
52:04We're seeing a steady increase in the volume of climate change litigation around the world.
52:09It's partly because some governments are actually imposing regulations and companies are pushing back against those regulations and trying to
52:17get relief from the courts.
52:18By now, several automobile companies in Germany are facing court cases.
52:23And this will be something that will, you know, expand.
52:28But this needs to be the warning for every company out there that they, you know, they will face similar
52:33cases.
52:33And they will be held accountable, not just by nice newsletters and petitions sent to them, but by court, by
52:41court cases, one by one.
52:44Then finally, to raise the stakes even higher, one of the future tricks up the sleeve of Roger's courtroom gown
52:49could be another legal revolution.
52:52The idea that CEOs and board members of polluting companies could from now on also be sued in a personal
52:59capacity.
53:01Boards of big CO2-emitting corporations need to understand when they actively keep on pushing against climate regulation, greenwashing their
53:14business, that it might very well be the case that these directors will be personally liable next to the corporation
53:20as well.
53:21There's now a pool of successful cases and let's hope that others will build on that because we need hundreds,
53:29if not thousands of lawyers doing this kind of work and becoming much more involved.
53:35So.
53:35And I can't wait for the judiciary to play its part too in, in understanding the complexities of the climate
53:43problem.
53:44Here are gases that have been known by science to cause enormous irreparable damage.
53:51And we are letting the, the world down if we don't tackle that problem.
53:56We're not powerless on this.
53:58The climate crisis isn't just laying on our shoulders, it's also in our hands.
54:02Um, and that's something we need to, you know, we very, very much mustn't forget.
54:07We, I think it's never been easier to get inspired.
54:10We had climate litigation 1.0, if you will, in your agenda case.
54:14We had 2.0 now with the Shell case.
54:17And so there has to be a 3.0.
54:19And hopefully a few of these movements like the climate litigation movement on the one hand, the youth movement, the
54:26movement of more climate activists, shareholders, large investors taking their money out of oil and gas.
54:32So if all these believers can accelerate the speed in which they are effective, then nothing is impossible, I would
54:40say.
54:42A hopeful message in the end.
54:45There you go.
54:50Every one of us has the potential to create ripple effects.
54:54Everything you say counts.
54:56Everything you do counts.
54:58Everything you do counts.
54:59Everything you do counts.
55:22All right.
55:28Interesting.
55:29My social worker can't realize the future.
55:31Ooh, ah, ah, ah, ah
56:00Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
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