The preamble of the UNFCCC states that "change in the Earth's climate and its adverse effects are a common concern of humankind". Hence, the UNFCCC calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries. More specifically, states should enact effective environmental legislation including environmental standards, management objectives and priorities reflecting the environmental and developmental context to which they apply. Although the Paris Agreements emphasised the importance of the engagements of various actors in addressing climate change, no direct obligations have been imposed on non-state actors. Nonetheless, a rapid increase in climate litigation against energy intensive companies has occurred around the world. The paper aims to explore legal standards applied in climate litigation against energy intensive companies and emphasises limits of national law for these purposes. Against this background, the author analyses a judgment rendered by the Hague District Court in Milieudefensie et al v Royal Dutch Shell. Although both the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement often refer to present and future generations, the Hague District Court concluded that NGOs’ claims were admissible only to the extent that they related to the interests of current and future generations of Dutch residents, and not the world’s population as a whole, because there are differences in the time and manner in which the global population at various locations will be affected by global warming caused by CO2 emissions.