Norway court rejects environmental order against oil and gas field

The Norwegian Court of Appeal ruled on Monday in favor of the Government in an appeal brought by environmentalists who wanted to stop the development of three gas and oil fields.

Greenpeace, among others, sued the Norwegian Government to stop the development of new oil and natural gas resources. This is the latest dispute related to climate change.

In January, a lower court found that Norway's Energy Ministry failed to assess fully the climate impact of future oil and gas use in the fields, also known as scope three emissions. This ruling was made in response to a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace and Nature and Youth.

The court then ordered temporary injunctions to stop the development of three fields, Yggdrasil Tyrving and Breidablikk.

The appeals court put the injunctions back on hold in March, allowing the government and the field operators Aker BP & Equinor to continue work on the fields.

Oslo's efforts to overturn the verdict of the lower court were part of the effort to ask the appeals court in September to lift the bans.

The court said that it gave great importance to democratic considerations as well as the right to review in its decision.

The court ruled that "the concrete decisions needed to address the climate crisis, such as a possible shut down of petroleum activities, should be taken by the parliament and government in the first instance."

Norway, whose oil and gas accounts for a quarter of its GDP, claims that it will continue to use hydrocarbons in the future, while adhering to the Paris Climate Accords.

The Equinor Breidablikk oil field began production in October 2023. Aker BP Tyrving started production this September, attracting criticism from environmentalists. Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Louise Rasmussen & Jonathan Oatis

(source: Reuters)