The decision by the previous Conservative government in the United Kingdom to approve the giant Rosebank oilfield off Shetland was ruled unlawful by an Edinburgh court on Thursday.
The judgment by Lord Ericht at the Court of Session said the carbon emissions that would be created by the burning of oil and gas at the largest untapped oilfield in the UK had not been taken into consideration.
“Today’s ruling is part of a clear trend we’re seeing from courts in the UK – marking the third time in the last year that judges have found that ‘downstream’ emissions must be considered in planning decisions,” said ClientEarth lawyer Robert Clarke, in a press release from ClientEarth. “This is a resounding signal from the courtroom that companies and governments can no longer turn a blind eye to the vast majority of the emissions their coal, oil and gas fields create.”
The court also ruled that consent for Shell’s Jackdaw gas field was unlawful and that owners of both oilfields needed to seek new government approval before production could start, reported BBC News.
The judgment followed a case brought by Greenpeace and Uplift.
Lord Ericht said a more detailed environmental impact assessment would be needed that takes into account the climate effects of burning any extracted fossil fuels.
Work on both fields will be allowed to continue while the new information is gathered; however, no oil and gas can be extracted without the granting of new approval.
Permission for Rosebank’s North Atlantic oil development was given in 2023, while approval for the smaller Jackdaw gas field, located in the North Sea, was granted in the summer of 2022.
Lord Ericht wrote in the 57-page judgment that remaking the decision “on a lawful basis” was in the public interest due to the impacts of climate change, which outweighed the developers’ interests.
Uplift Executive Director Tessa Khan said the current Labour government should deny approval for both projects.
“The climate science is crystal clear that we can’t create new oil and gas fields if we’re going to stay within safe climate thresholds,” Khan said, as BBC News reported.
Philip Evans, a senior campaigner with Greenpeace, called the judgment “a historic win,” reported The Guardian.
“The age of governments approving new drilling sites by ignoring their climate impacts is over,” Evans said. “The courts have agreed with what climate campaigners have said all along: Rosebank and Jackdaw are unlawful, and their full climate impacts must now be properly considered.”
Campaigners had argued that oil and gas exploration in the North Sea would not bring any economic or energy security and that there was no climate rationale behind it.
“Any institutional investor, asset manager or lender backing new fossil fuel projects in the UK is now gambling on a high-risk strategy for its clients with financial prospects seriously in doubt,” Clarke said in the press release. “New fossil fuel projects in the UK have never been a riskier investment – and financial institutions both at home and abroad must take that into account when it comes to their portfolios.”
The International Energy Agency has repeatedly said that there should be no new drilling for oil and gas if we are to keep global heating from exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold recommended by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Climate activists and trade unions have argued that the UK government should be investing in renewable energy in order to meet climate goals and provide cheap and secure energy, The Guardian reported.
James Alexander, UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association chief executive, called renewables the “UK’s key growth sector of the future.”
“That is where we should be focusing our upskilling efforts and attracting the billions available in private investment,” Alexander said.
The court’s ruling sends the decision on Rosebank — primarily owned by Equinor — and Jackdaw back to the government. A UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said the government was receiving environmental guidance that takes emissions from oil and gas into account and was expected to deliver an update in the spring.
“We will respond to this consultation as soon as possible and developers will be able to apply for consents under this revised regime. Our priority is to deliver a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, which drives towards our clean energy future of energy security, lower bills, and good, long-term jobs,” the spokesperson said.
Stop Rosebank campaigner Lauren MacDonald said the development would bring more harm than benefits to Scotland.
“Almost all of Rosebank’s oil would be sold overseas, doing nothing to lower our bills or make us more secure, with most of the profits going straight to the state-backed Norwegian firm, Equinor,” MacDonald said, as reported by The Guardian. “It’s not fair that people here are now suffering the impacts of climate change, which is driven by fossil fuels and which will get worse as long as companies are allowed to open huge new drilling sites.”
Follow #StopRosebank to join the protest.
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