On January 30, 2025, a UK court ruled against the government's approval of new North Sea oil and gas drilling sites, citing inadequate climate impact assessments. Shell’s Rosebank oilfield, off the coast of Shetland, was given the green light by the UK government on September 27, 2023, while Equinor’s Jackdaw was approved on June 1, 2022. Following these decisions, environmental campaigning groups Uplift and Greenpeace raised legal challenges against both projects at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
The case primarily argued that the projects’ Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) failed to consider the climate impact created by downstream emissions from burning the extracted fossil fuels, meaning that the government decision to greenlight the project had been unlawful. The ruling sends a stark message to oil and gas firms that future expansion won’t go unchallenged, with the judge, Lord Ericht, emphasizing that there was public interest in having the decision “remade on a lawful basis” due to the impacts of climate change, which outweighed the interests of the developers.
As resistance from environmental groups, the broader public and now the courts – especially in the UK and Europe – continues to grow, future projects will face greater scrutiny. Businesses already face pressure to assess and incorporate climate risks into their initial planning stages, alongside incentives to decarbonize operations and switch to cleaner alternatives – all the while contending with mounting legal and reputational risks. If other courts follow the Edinburgh Court of Session’s lead, the financial case for new fossil fuel project will weaken. Continued legal challenges may lead to project delays, which will force oil and gas firms to reconsider their climate strategy, potentially accelerating divestment and shifting investment toward cleaner alternatives. In the UK, where government decarbonization goals aim to achieve 95% renewable energy by 2030, there are strong incentives for alternative energy innovation and a fertile landscape for investment.
