The appeals court judge said that companies such as Shell were obliged to contribute to combating climate change based on the human right to protection against dangerous climate change. However, the court said Shell was already working to reduce its emissions and the court could not establish whether it should make a 45% cut or another percentage, as there was no current accepted agreement in climate science on the required amount.

In other words, the courts say murder is bad, but a little murder is still ok if you promise really nicely that you will reduce the number of murders you do in 5 years time, and they’re just going to take your word for it because you’re such a trustworthy corporation you’ve paid them off.