Case T-725/25: Action brought on 17 October 2025 – Shell Italia E&P v Commission
Date: 2025-10-17
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: carbon neutrality, clean technology, equal treatment, gas industry, industrial pollution, oil industry, principle of legal certainty, principle of proportionality








C_202506646EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/6646


22.12.2025






Action brought on 17 October 2025 – Shell Italia E&P v Commission


(Case T-725/25)

(C/2025/6646)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: Shell Italia E&P (Rome, Italy) (represented by: M. De Backer, A. Greco and A. Venditti, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






—


annul the Contested decision pursuant to Article 263 TFEU;










—


declare Article 23 NZIA inapplicable pursuant to Article 277 TFEU;










—


annul the Contested Delegated Regulation pursuant to Article 263 TFEU or declare it inapplicable pursuant to Article 277 TFEU; and,










—


order the defendant to pay the applicant’s costs pursuant to Article 134 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, including the costs of any intervening parties.





Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, seeking, on the one hand, the annulment of Commission Decision (EU) 2025/1479 of 22 May 2025 specifying the pro rata contributions to the Union CO2 injection capacity objective by 2030 from entities holding an authorisation as defined in Article 1, point 3, of Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Contested Decision’) and of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1477 of 21 May 2025 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the rules on the identification of authorised oil and gas producers who are required to contribute to the objective of reaching the Union target for available CO2 injection capacity by 2030, on the calculation of their respective contributions, and on their reporting obligations (‘Contested Delegated Regulation’) and, on the other hand, a declaration of inapplicability of Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology manufacturing ecosystem (‘NZIA’), the applicant relies on six pleas in law.






1.


First plea in law, alleging infringement of the principle of proportionality because:






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the effect of the NZIA contribution requirements on obligated entities has not been assessed to the required standard; and,










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the NZIA contribution requirements cannot feasibly be achieved by 2030.














2.


Second plea in law, alleging infringement of the principle of equality because:






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the Article 23 NZIA contribution requirements impact a limited number of companies and discount other companies in similar situations;










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the Article 23 NZIA contribution requirements fail to provide flexibility for differing circumstances; and










—


the Article 23 NZIA contribution requirements are based on an arbitrary reference period to calculate the individual contribution requirements.














3.


Third plea in law, alleging infringement of the freedom to conduct a business because the Article 23 NZIA contribution requirements unduly affect the business activities of the applicant.










4.


Fourth plea in law, alleging the infringement of legal certainty because a historic reference period is used to calculate the NZIA contribution requirements without any transitional period or comparable safeguard measures.










5.


Fifth plea in law, alleging infringement of essential procedural requirements in relation to the Decision by failing to consult as required under Article 23(3) NZIA.










6.


Sixth plea in law, alleging infringements of Union law by misapplication of Article 23(2) NZIA through the possible use of unreliable data arising from the lack of a sufficiently robust methodology.






ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/6646/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)