Our groundbreaking case against Shell’s Board of Directors comes to an end - ClientEarth

We brought this case as a ‘derivative action’ against Shell in the UK, arguing that the company needs to move away from fossil fuels, as continuing to invest in them presents significant financial risk to its investors.

We filed the case in February 2023, and in May the UK High Court dismissed it. We applied for this decision to be appealed, but that application was rejected, meaning the decision to dismiss the case is final.

What were we trying to do with this case?

Shell’s Board is legally required to manage risks to the company that could harm its future success, and we believe the climate crisis presents the biggest risk of them all.

Ensuring the company stays competitive in the energy markets of the future, as countries and customers worldwide choose cheaper, cleaner energy, means Shell needs to move away from fossil fuels towards an alternative business model.

We were arguing that the plan Shell’s Board currently has for making that shift is simply insufficient.

Why? It fails to deliver the reduction in emissions that is needed to keep global climate goals within reach and continues with fossil fuel production for decades to come. This would tie the company to projects and investments that are likely to become unprofitable as the world cleans up its energy systems.

That puts the company’s long-term commercial viability at risk, and also threatens efforts to protect the planet, still further increasing the risk to the company and the global economy.

The future consequences of Shell’s flawed climate plans could cause the company’s value to plummet, costing jobs and running the risk of shareholders and investors losing significant amounts of money, including people’s pension funds.

We believe this puts Shell’s Board in breach of its legal duties under the UK Companies Act to manage the climate risk facing the company.