A court has ruled that consent for two new Scottish oil and gas fields was granted unlawfully and their owners must seek fresh approval from the UK government before production can begin.
The written judgement on the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields came after a case brought by environmental campaigners, Uplift and Greenpeace, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, the BBC reported.
The proposed Rosebank development – the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield – had been given the go-ahead in 2023 under the previous government.
However, the court of session in Edinburgh sided with campaigners and climate experts in ruling that the original decisions to permit Rosebank and a second, smaller, gas field called Jackdaw were unlawful, as they had not taken into account the carbon emissions created by burning any oil and gas produced.
Tessa Khan, from the campaign group Uplift which has been at the forefront of the campaign to stop Rosebank, said in the Guardian that the court ruling was a significant milestone. “This … means that Rosebank cannot go ahead without accounting for its enormous climate harm,” she said.
In his judgement, Lord Ericht said work on both fields could continue while the new information was gathered but no oil and gas could be extracted unless fresh approval was granted. In a 57-page judgement, Lord Ericht wrote that there was a public interest in having the decision “remade on a lawful basis” because of the effects of climate change – which he said outweighed the interests of the developers.
Direct and indirect effects
As part of the original consenting process, environmental impact assessments were carried out to identify, describe and assess “the direct and indirect effects” of the projects.
Those assessments took into account emissions generated by the process of extracting oil and gas but not the greenhouse gases which would be released when those fossil fuels were eventually burned – known as “downstream” or “Scope 3” emissions.
But last June, in a dispute about oil wells near London’s Gatwick Airport, the UK Supreme Court ruled that environmental impact assessments must also include downstream emissions.
Now Lord Ericht has ruled that the decision in that case – Finch v Surrey County Council – should apply retrospectively to Rosebank and Jackdaw.
As a result, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and the regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, must reconsider whether or not to grant consent, taking into account those downstream emissions.
Political repercussions
The ruling means the decisions on Jackdaw and Rosebank are set to return to the UK government, which has pledged not to grant any new licences for oil and gas in the dwindling North Sea basin – although technically, that does not include granting “production licences”, which is what both Rosebank and Jackdaw would require.
A split in Labour could emerge over whether to reject or allow oil and gas extraction at Rosebank. Approving Rosebank would trigger anger across the Labour party, with The Guardian reporting MPs and even Cabinet members could oppose such a move.
First Minister John Swinney said the Scottish government would “reflect carefully” on the court’s decision but that he had not yet been able to analyse it “in detail”.
He told reporters the judgement highlighted the significance of climate implications being considered in any consenting decisions. He said that had always been an “essential part” of the Scottish government’s stance.