Energy and Climate Law

  A new article has been published open access in the Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law (Ruven Fleming and Romain Mauger `Green and Just? An update on the `European Green Deal´ (2021) Volume 18 Journal For European Environmental & Planning Law 164-180). The article is available for free here and the abstract is displayed in this blogpost.

On 29 January 2021 Nigerian farmers succeeded with their claims against Royal Dutch Shell in two cases concerning oil spills in the Niger Delta from Shell`s pipelines in the villages Oruma and Goi. The conduct of Shell in Nigeria has been subject of debate for decades and the cases raise a number of interesting legal issues.  Shell claimed that the leakage from both pipelines, which polluted the fields of the farmers, was caused by `sabotage´of the pipelines. The court found, instead, that the evidence presented for sabotage did not meet the legal requirements. This blog entry illuminates the cases and discusses the underlying legal issues of liability with a view to oil pollution in Nigeria.