The Norwegian state lost an appeal case on Friday regarding permits for three oil fields in the North Sea. The case concerns the oil fields Breidablikk, Tyrving and Yggdrasil.
The central issue is the state's assessments of the climate footprint from the combustion emissions from the oil fields, which the environmental organizations Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom believe have been deficient. And the court has ruled in their favor.
The state must therefore re-examine the climate effect and at the same time pay nearly seven million Norwegian kroner for the legal costs.
The case has been handled as an appeal case in the Court of Appeal, after the state appealed the original decision from the district court. Here, the environmental organizations were also successful. The Court of Appeal considers that the climate effect has neither been sufficiently investigated nor assessed, writes the court's press department.
The permits also do not meet the requirements for case processing from the EU's Project Directive and the European Convention on Human Rights, it further states. The permits for the establishment and operation of the three oil fields are, in short, invalid, is the conclusion.
Relief at Greenpeace
The leader of Greenpeace in Norway, Frode Pleym, is relieved and happy about the verdict, but adds that it does not come as a surprise.
- More and more courts, both in Norway and internationally, are exercising their responsibility to protect people from dangerous climate change created by the oil industry.
Frode Pleym adds that environmental organizations expect the operation of the oil fields to be stopped immediately. But it is not certain that this will be the case. At least that is not a requirement from the court.
According to Reuters, the decision states that the state will be given six months to correct the deficiencies, and during that period operations can continue.
One of the reasons why the court does not require that oil production be stopped immediately is for reasons of security of supply in Europe, the court has stated.
Norway produces two percent of the world's oil and became the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe after the EU cut imports from Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
/ritzau/NTB
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