Three Norwegian oil and gas field permits invalidated on environmental grounds
Three permits given by the Norwegian government to develop new offshore oil and gas fields were found to be invalid on Thursday because their environmental impact was not sufficiently assessed, in a ruling that could set a precedent for new fields, Azernews reports citing Reuters.
Environmental campaign groups had asked the Oslo District Court to block the development of the three North Sea fields, citing a failure to consider the impact of the future use of all the extracted fossil fuels on the global climate through the greenhouse gases they will emit.
The lawsuit filed by Greenpeace and its partner Nature and Youth concerns Equinor's (EQNR.OL), opens new tab Breidablikk and Aker BP's (AKRBP.OL), opens new tab Yggdrasil and Tyrving fields, which hold combined reserves of some 875 million barrels of oil equivalent.
"The court's conclusion is that the decisions on the plan for the development and operation of petroleum deposits for Breidablikk, Yggdrasil and Tyrving are invalid," said the ruling by Judge Lena Skjold Rafoss.
It said future emissions should have been assessed as part of the approval process, in line with a Supreme Court decision in 2020.
"An impact assessment ensures that dissenting voices are heard and considered, and that the decision-making basis is verifiable and available to the public," it added.
"This is important to safeguard democratic participation in decisions that may influence the environment."
The ruling applied only to the three recently approved fields "and not to other activity on the Norwegian continental shelf".
Norway's Energy Minister, Terje Aasland, said the government disagreed with the verdict and would consider appealing, in an emailed statement to Reuters.
"This is a full and complete victory for the climate over Norway," Greenpeace Norway head Frode Pleym told Reuters.
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