Shell Fights Charge That Its Climate Stance Harms Human Rights

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is in court in The Hague for the final hearing in a landmark case that could force it to reduce its carbon footprint.

The case brought by the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, links the oil major’s stance on climate change with human rights. The ruling will also have implications for Shell’s European peers as pressure mounts on polluting energy companies to step up the fight against global warming.

Over two weeks of court proceedings, lawyers for Milieudefensie have argued that Shell is violating human rights by extracting fossil fuels and undermining ...