The decision by the previous Conservative government in the UK to approve the huge Rosebank oil field off Shetland was ruled unlawful by a court in Edinburgh last Thursday. The judgement said that the carbon emissions that would be caused by burning oil and gas at the largest undeveloped oil field in the UK had not been taken into account.
‘The judgement is part of a clear trend we are seeing from courts in the UK – which is the third time in the last year that judges have found that ‘downstream’ emissions must be taken into account in planning decisions,’ ClientEarth lawyer Robert Clarke said in a press release. ‘This is a clear signal from the courtroom that companies and governments can no longer turn a blind eye to the vast majority of emissions their coal, oil and gas fields cause.’
The judge wrote in the 57-page judgement that reinstating the decision ‘on a lawful basis’ was in the public interest due to the effects of climate change lagclimate change outweighing the interests of developers. Executive director Tessa Khan, said the current Labour government should refuse permission for both projects.
‘The climate science is crystal clear that we can’t create new oil and gas fields if we stay within safe climate thresholds,’ Khan said, as reported by BBC News.
The age of governments approving new drilling sites by ignoring their climate impact is over. The courts have agreed with what climate campaigners have been saying all along: ‘Rosebank and Jackdaw are unlawful, and their full climate impacts must now be properly considered.’
The International Energy Agency has repeatedly said that there should be no new drilling for oil and gas if we are to prevent global warming from exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold recommended in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Climate campaigners and trade unions have argued that the UK government should invest in renewable energy to meet climate targets and provide cheap and secure energy, The Guardian reported.
The court’s judgement sends the decision on Rosebank – which is primarily owned by Equinor – and Jackdaw, back to the government. A spokesman for the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero said the government will receive environmental guidelines that take into account emissions from oil and gas, and was expected to provide an update in the spring.