Oil and gas firms could face fresh legal action by activist groups
Major oil and gas firms including BP and Shell could face fresh legal action by activist groups as investors demand stock market-listed firms align with Paris climate goals.
The wave of potential lawsuits could also target Chevron and
Exxon and other heavy industry majors such as Ineos, the petrochemicals giant
controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, and biomass power firm Drax.
Amsterdam-based environmental group Fossielvrij NL has told
The Mail on Sunday it is preparing to sue ABP – the Dutch Government's giant
pension fund and one of the world's largest pension investors – to force it to
sell its stakes in fossil fuel companies.
Fossielvrij director Liset Meddens said potential legal
action would be filed jointly with the pensions scheme's members.
It is understood a lawsuit would explore how they could take
legal action to allow them to leave the fund in protest over its investments in
firms such as Shell, Exxon, Chevron, BP and Glencore. Meddens said: 'We are
talking to international law funds and lawyers about preparing a potential
lawsuit.'
ABP has offices in the Netherlands, Brussels, New York, Hong
Kong and China. As of the end of May, it managed €509billion on behalf of
2.9million civil servants and teachers. It has already stopped investing in
firms that make landmines, nuclear weapons and tobacco products – and is aiming
for a fifth of its assets to make a 'measurable contribution' to sustainable
development goals by 2025.
But since October, more than 16,000 of ABP's members have
backed a petition, launched by Fossielvrij NL, to divest its fossil fuel
investments, and hundreds protested at its offices in Amsterdam and Heerlen on
Friday.
That follows court action by Friends of the Earth
Netherlands, which won a landmark legal battle against Shell in The Hague last
month, and said it is looking to target other major fossil fuel companies,
focusing on Dutch firms.
Environmental group ClientEarth also told the MoS it is
exploring legal action to potentially challenge energy companies that
'greenwash' their climate change claims. ClientEarth lawyer Johnny White called
the Shell case – where the court ordered the firm to cut carbon emissions by 45
per cent by the end of 2035 compared to 2019 levels – a 'game-changer for
climate litigation'. He said: 'Given this result, we can expect further legal
challenges to fossil fuel companies that refuse to meaningfully transition
their businesses with the urgency needed.'
Since the May ruling, Friends of the Earth has been
contacted by groups around the world looking to make similar claims and has
shared information with others keen to target large polluters.
ClientEarth filed a legal complaint against BP in 2019 over
greenwashing in its corporate advertising. Its next targets could include
Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total, Drax, Ineos, Aramco, Equinor and RWE.
The nine firms were named in ClientEarth's 'greenwashing
files', published in April, which alleged they had used advertising to
'greenwash' their contribution to tackling climate change. White said this
research put the firms 'on notice' of litigation, adding: 'Fossil fuel firms
need to stop suggesting wrongly they are part of the solution, otherwise they
leave themselves open to challenge.'
A spokesman for Shell said: 'We agree urgent action is
needed on climate change and while we expect to appeal the ruling [in The
Hague] we want to rise to the challenge and accelerate our existing strategy.'
French group Notre Affaire A Tous is leading a lawsuit
against Total in France and there is speculation BP could be the next major UK
target. One activist source said: 'I am pretty sure BP will be targeted by
someone sooner or later, based on this verdict.'
Mark Van Baal, founder of the activist shareholder group
Follow This, said: 'Young people in their 20s are saying, 'I need this money 50
years from now and I don't want it invested in companies...who leave me with a
world that is devastated by climate change.'
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