The Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s approval of plans for the development and operation of three oil fields in the North Sea is invalid due to procedural errors.
The government has not adequately assessed the climate impacts of the three North Sea oil fields, according to Aftenposten. However, this does not mean that the projects must be halted, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The environmental organisations Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom celebrated their victory on Friday, having won the case by a vote of 6 to 5. The state must pay the legal costs, and the two organisations are therefore each awarded 5 million kroner.
– A milestone. This changes Norwegian petroleum policy forever. The days when information could be withheld about the extent to which Norwegian oil and gas contribute to the climate crisis are over,” said an “incredibly happy” Greenpeace leader, Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle, following the ruling.
The state also lost the case against the environmental organisations Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom, as well as Save the Children, in both the district court and the court of appeal.
The Court of Appeal and the District Court found that the government had granted licences for three oil projects in the North Sea without the projects having been assessed as required by law. (NTB)
Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom objected to the fact that the government only assesses the consequences of emissions occurring within Norway. They argued that the climate impact of emissions resulting from the use of oil and gas outside Norway’s borders must also be taken into account.
Their case was upheld by the District Court, the EEA Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal. The three fields – Yggdrasil, Breidablikk and Tyrving – were declared invalid. However, this does not mean that the oil companies’ licences are revoked, according to Justice Thomas Christian Poulsen of the Supreme Court.
Instead, the state must make entirely new decisions, in which the climate impacts of both the individual oil fields and Norway’s overall oil and gas projects are thoroughly assessed.
Whilst the legal proceedings have been ongoing, Breidablikk and Tyrving have been in full production, and the development of Yggdrasil is proceeding as planned.
The Ministry of Energy has already changed its practice, and flaring emissions are now included in the assessment of all new fields. However, the Government Attorney argued that the error was not, in any case, so significant as to render the decisions regarding the three disputed fields invalid. The case was therefore appealed to the Supreme Court.
There, the state ultimately lost the case, by 6 votes to 5. The judgement states:
– The subsequent decisions not to revoke the approvals did indeed include assessments of flaring emissions. However, the total emissions from existing and approved extraction operations on the Norwegian continental shelf were not taken into account. The approvals were therefore declared invalid due to procedural errors, the judgement states.
The minority opinion held that the government’s subsequent decisions had remedied the shortcomings in the original approvals.
MDG demands a complete halt to oil production
MDG is delighted with the Supreme Court’s decision and is calling for production at the fields to be halted immediately.
– What wonderful news! This is a victory for the climate, the rule of law and future generations. We are calling for an immediate halt to production at these fields until the law has been complied with,” says MDG’s Frøya Skjold Sjursæther in a press release. (NTB)
Lars Haltbrekken of the Socialist Left Party (SV) believes that the ruling must also have consequences for further development on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Kristoffer Sivertsen of the Progress Party (FrP), for his part, scoffs at the ruling. He believes the EU is shooting itself in the foot with directives that could help delay the supply of gas to heat European homes. He is calling on the government to do everything in its power to ensure there are no delays to important petroleum projects.
– I must congratulate Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom on securing more paperwork for the consultants at Aker Brygge. It is pointless for oil companies to have to work out how much oil is used to produce Lego bricks in Denmark or for the plastic packaging of heart medication from Germany.
The first NTB article was written by Eirik Husø, Edvard Stenersen, Ole Morten Eriksen and Marius Helge Larsen.
