Press releases

Shell Nigeria tries to avoid Dutch court

Amsterdam, 27 August 2009. Shell plans to argue at a special session of the court in The Hague scheduled for 3 December that its subsidiary in Nigeria need not appear before the Dutch court. This is the first session in the case of the Nigerian farmers F. A. Oguru, A. Efanga and Milieudefensie [Friends of the Earth Netherlands] versus Shell.

Cameroon forest reserve plundered for European timber market

Friends of the Earth Netherlands calls on Minister Verburg to make clear agreements with her fellow ministers at the Agriculture Council in June on a rapid completion of the European legislation against trade in illegally harvested timber.

Shell forced to settle human rights case out of court

After legal battles lasting nearly fourteen years, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been forced to pay a$15.5 million out-of-court settlement. Plaintiffs from the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta have successfully held Shell accountable for complicity in human rights atrocities committed against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, including the execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Campaign against 'the drama behind cheap meat'

Amsterdam, 12 March 2009-Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie) launches a campaign today to convince supermarket Albert Heijn to save the rainforests in South America. Netherlands largest supermarket sells meat that involves the use of large amounts of soy as feed for animals. The production of this soy leads to large-scale deforestation on the other side of the world. Milieudefensie is calling on Albert Heijn's customers to improve its policy.

Trade in Burmese timber continues despite ban

Amsterdam, 6 February 2009 – Despite a European trade ban, Dutch timber companies are continuing to import Burmese wood. Today Milieudefensie has published a research1 which shows that the wood arrives in Europe via a loophole in the sanction regulations. The Milieudefensie 'Burmese wood inspection team', cordoned off the two largest Dutch dealers in Burmese wood for the yacht-building industry, Worldwood and Boogaerdt, as ‘crime scenes’.

Financial institutions vote more in favour of climate

In 2008 Dutch banks and Pension Funds voted more frequently in favour of climate resolutions as shareholders than they did in previous years. Pension fund PGGM is in the lead while ING en Fortis rank lowest. These are the findings of the study “Aandelen in klimaatverandering" which Milieudefensie publishes today where the voting patterns of Dutch banks and pension funds on climate-related shareholder resolutions is scrutinized.

Shell faces legal action in the Netherlands over Nigerian pollution

Amsterdam (The Netherlands) – May 14, 2008 - Shell-headquarters in the Netherlands is held liable by Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Nigeria and four Nigerians, for the massive damage that oil spills are causing to villages in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Last Friday, Dutch lawyers representing the plaintiffs summoned Shell to clarify its role concerning oil spills. In early June, based on Shell-headquarters' response, the plaintiffs will decide whether to proceed with the lawsuit.

Wilmar promises to improve oil palm practices

Amsterdam, February 5, 2008 - After a joint complaint by Friends of the Earth and Indonesian Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), palm oil giant Wilmar International has admitted violating its own policies on plantation development in Sambas, Indonesia. Wilmar has announced measures to improve its sustainability performance.

New report: Europe drives forest destruction

Amsterdam / Brussels, December 18, 2007 - Four years after the EU Action Plan on illegal timber was introduced, illegal and destructive timber continues to pour across Europe's borders. A report released today by Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace shows that European consumers continue to unknowingly buy flooring and exterior doors made from illegally and destructively logged merbau, a species threatened with extinction.

Climate Litigation research published

Climate Litigation research published in Amsterdam, December 17, 2007 - Friends of the Earth Netherlands has published legal research on the possibilities of legal cases to prevent and compensate for climate change.

Activists illegally plant trees in Brussels

Amsterdam, Brussels, November 28, 2007 - Last night, 19 activists from Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Flanders & Brussels illegally planted trees in Brussels, at the Grote Markt, the Atomium and 'Manneke Pis'. The action demonstrates the absurd contrast that trade in illegal timber on the EU market goes unpunished, while illegally planting trees is punishable.

Tree for Commissioner Dimas

Amsterdam and Brussels, November 26, 2007 – To highlight the massive imports of illegal timber into Europe, Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Friends of the Earth Flanders & Brussels invited European Commissioner for Environment Stavros Dimas to receive a tree next Wednesday (28th November), before the European Commission's weekly meeting. Illegal logging fuels the global forest crisis, hugely threatening biodiversity and impoverishing forest peoples. The European Commission is currently working on a Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Action Plan (FLEGT).

Toxic Food in the European Parliament

Brussels, October 10, 2007 – On July 13, 2007, Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) and Pesticide Action Network Europe, purchased eight fruit items from the GB Express supermarket in the European Parliament building (Brussels) and analysed them for the presence of pesticide residues. All 28 pesticides detected have known or suspected links with negative impacts on human health, while residues on apricot, grapes and oranges exceeded legal limits, making these fruits illegal to sell.

Climate justice needed to adress global warming

Washington DC, London, September 24, 2007 – Industrialised nations which have contributed disproportionately to climate change must take lead in radically reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases.

European legislation to combat illegal timber one step closer

Amsterdam/Utrecht, June 27, 2007 – The Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Gerda Verburg, responded directly to a joint appeal from the timber sector and civil society organisations this morning. They asked the minister to pursue European legislation to halt trade in illegal timber.

Dutch customers start moving to climate-conscious banks

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 22, 2007 – Dutch customers are startingto move to climate-conscious banks. One hundred customers of banks with the worst 'climate performance' have already left their banks since June10 to join more climate-conscious banks.

Climate Change? Not with my money

Amsterdam, June 9, 2007 – Investments by Dutch banks cause more than three times the CO2 emissions that the Netherlands emits annually. The banks invest over twenty times more in projects that harm the climate such as oil extraction and coal-fired plants, than in projects for climate friendly renewable energy.

Milieudefensie presents unpaid bills at Shell shareholders’ meeting

Amsterdam/The Hague, May 14, 2007 – Demonstrators from Milieudefensie [Friends of the Earth Netherlands] dressed as accountants passed out their cards to shareholders at the entrance of the Shell shareholders’ meeting. The accountants from the firm ‘Thorough & Co’ have discovered a number of unpaid environmental bills in Shell’s annual accounts.

Inspections and research of wooden garden furniture

Amsterdam, May 2007 - For the third year in succession, Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) has examined the selection of wooden garden furniture in ten chain shores. Milieudefensie took an inventory of the proportion of furniture on the shop floor which is made from FSC-certified wood and of furniture which falsely claims to be sustainable.

A fifteen-metre high flare at Shell headquarters

Amsterdam, May 3, 2007 – On the day that oil giant Shell's quarterly earnings report is made public, Friends of the Earth Netherlands is lighting a 15-metre high flare in front of the headquarters of Shell in The Hague, protesting the gas flaring in Nigeria. Shell should heed the court order to stop gas flaring in Nigeria by 30 April 2007 immediately. This deadline expired and the flares are still burning.

Milieudefensie parodies Shell ad campaign

Amsterdam, April 19, 2007 – Milieudefensie [Friends of the Earth Netherlands] today started a campaign directed at Shell, using radio spots and advertisements in Dutch newspapers. Both the radio spots and print advertisements parody the latest Shell commercials, through which the oil company is trying to acquire an environmentally friendly image.