Norway sells almost all of its oil and gas abroad, which has long allowed governments in Oslo to treat the emissions from burning it as somebody else’s problem. On Friday the country’s Supreme Court, sitting as a grand chamber of eleven judges, said that approach no longer holds up in law.
In its ruling, the court declared invalid the permits the state had issued for Breidablikk, Tyrving and the Yggdrasil area in the North Sea. The challenge came from Greenpeace Nordic and the youth group Natur og Ungdom, who argued that the environmental assessments only counted emissions from building and running the installations, ignoring the far larger volume released when the fuel is eventually burned.
All eleven judges agreed on this core point. Drawing on the EU project directive, which applies in Norway through the European Economic Area, and on an advisory opinion from the EFTA Court, the judges said combustion emissions and their effect on global warming must be assessed before a development plan is approved. They split six to five, however, on a second question, and the majority view decided the case: authorities must also weigh the combined emissions of other fields already operating or approved on the Norwegian shelf. That had not been done. The court did not accept the campaigners’ demand that projects be measured against the remaining global carbon budget.
Production will not stop overnight. The operators, Equinor and Aker BP, were not parties to the case, so their permits do not simply lapse. Instead the energy ministry must reconsider the projects under a proper procedure, which could end with the approvals confirmed or amended.
It is the third time the campaigners have beaten the state in this dispute, after wins in the Oslo District Court and the Borgarting Court of Appeal. Greenpeace said Norwegian oil policy had changed for good, and lawyers expect the ministry to rewrite its guidance for future development plans.
