Judge upholds legal challenge against new North Sea oil and gas fields
Judge upholds legal challenge against new North Sea oil and gas fields
Share:
A judge has upheld a legal challenge by environmental campaigners against the decision to grant consent to two new oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Greenpeace and Uplift brought the challenge at the Court of Session in Edinburgh over decisions to give approval to the Rosebank oil field north west of Shetland and the Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen.
They argued the UK Government and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) had acted unlawfully when granting consent to the projects, as environmental impact assessments did not take into account downstream emissions resulting from the burning of the extracted fuels.
The former Conservative-led UK government approved Shell’s proposals to develop the Jackdaw field in 2022, and cleared Equinor and Ithaca Energy’s plans to drill in the Rosebank field in September 2023. In a judgement published on Thursday, Lord Ericht said the decision to grant consent was unlawful, and ruled the consent should be “reduced” (quashed) and reconsidered.
In his published opinion, he said: “Having considered all the circumstances of the case and the various public and private interests, I have reached the conclusion that the balance lies in favour of granting reduction. “The public interest in authorities acting lawfully and the private interest of members of the public in climate change outweigh the private interest of the developers.
