{"id":17036,"date":"2026-04-21T18:45:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/?p=17036"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:45:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:45:39","slug":"fossil-fuel-giants-challenge-the-netherlands-over-groningen-gas-field-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2026\/04\/21\/fossil-fuel-giants-challenge-the-netherlands-over-groningen-gas-field-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"Fossil Fuel Giants Challenge the Netherlands Over Groningen Gas Field Closure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2026\/01\/19\/aftershock-in-groningen-shell-exxonmobil-arbitration-cases-against-the-netherlands-bart-jaap-verbeek\/\">ongoing pending contract-based arbitration<\/a>, Shell and ExxonMobil have initiated <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips18'>ICSID<\/span> arbitration (Cases <a href=\"https:\/\/icsid.worldbank.org\/cases\/case-database\/case-detail?CaseNo=ARB\/26\/2\">ARB\/26\/2<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/icsid.worldbank.org\/cases\/case-database\/case-detail?CaseNo=ARB\/24\/44\">ARB\/24\/44<\/a>) against the Netherlands under the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips67'>ECT<\/span>. Shell&#8217;s claim (filed on December 23, 2025) and ExxonMobil&#8217;s parallel claim (filed through its Belgian subsidiary) seek full compensation following the government&#8217;s decision to accelerate the closure of the Groningen gas field to mitigate extensive seismic damage to thousands of homes. Although the Netherlands withdrew from the ECT in 2025, the treaty\u2019s 20-year sunset clause enables both claims. Civil society groups, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.somo.nl\/shell-files-new-arbitration-against-the-netherlands-over-groningen-gas-field-closure\/\">SOMO<\/a>, have condemned the filings. These cases demonstrate how fossil-fuel companies use <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips43'>ISDS<\/span> to shift the costs of environmental remediation and climate-transition measures onto taxpayers. The proceedings risk creating a regulatory chill, potentially discouraging other states from taking similar urgent safety or climate actions. They also expose the ECT&#8217;s sunset clause as a persistent constraint on democratic climate policy, even after formal withdrawal. For detailed background, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2026\/01\/19\/aftershock-in-groningen-shell-exxonmobil-arbitration-cases-against-the-netherlands-bart-jaap-verbeek\/\"><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips60'>ITN<\/span> analysis<\/a>, which examines how the contractual and treaty-based claims interact.<\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips18','International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips43','investor\u2013state dispute settlement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips58','soluci\u00f3n de controversias inversionista-Estado'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips60','Investment Treaty News'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips69','fair and equitable treatment'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite an ongoing pending contract-based arbitration, Shell and ExxonMobil have initiated <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips18'>ICSID<\/span> arbitration (Cases ARB\/26\/2 and ARB\/24\/44) against the Netherlands under the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips67'>ECT<\/span>.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips18','International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":17190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1900],"class_list":["post-17036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-current-issue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17036"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17039,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036\/revisions\/17039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}