British Supreme Court ruling celebrated as victory for climate protection

Oil and gas companies could find it more difficult to drill new wells in the United Kingdom (UK) and Northern Ireland, experts said this week following a landmark British court ruling that some say could set a precedent for other countries.

Britain’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that Surrey County Council in southeast England should have considered the full climate impact of a proposed series of boreholes near the town of Horley. The court sided with environmental campaigners who said the council should have considered, as part of its environmental impact assessment, not only greenhouse gas emissions from building the boreholes but also from burning the oil they contain.

While the decision does not mean that future fossil fuel projects will be rejected, it does mean that local authorities – which are responsible for planning decisions in the UK – will have to consider the wider environmental footprint of oil and gas production.

“It is a very important ruling,” said Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Legal Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “It ensures that the true environmental costs of fossil fuel projects are taken into account.”

Although the decision only applies to the UK, it is likely to be closely examined by other courts around the world, Kameri-Mbote said.

The decision comes during a summer of extreme weather caused by a worsening climate crisis. Deadly heatwaves and wildfires occurred across southern Europe, and temperatures reached over 44°C in Greece.

According to UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2023, the world is heading for a temperature rise of 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels this century unless countries do more than they have pledged in their existing climate plans – known as nationally determined contributions. To meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree target, the world must cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases by 42 percent by 2030.

In a major victory for climate activists, the UK Supreme Court found that environmental impact assessment law does not impose a geographical limitation on the impacts of oil and gas exploration. “In principle, all likely significant impacts of the project must be assessed, regardless of where (or when) those impacts arise or become felt. There is no justification for limiting the scope of the assessment to impacts likely to occur at or near the project site,” the court found.

The court also cited UNEP’s 2019 Production Gap Report, which found that “leaving oil in one place does not lead to a corresponding increase in production elsewhere.” In doing so, it rejected the so-called “drug dealer defense,” in which fossil fuel companies argue that if they don’t supply oil and gas, someone else will.