Norway court rejects environmental injunction against oil and gas fields

A Norwegian appeals court said on Monday it had ruled in favour of the government in a case brought by environmental activists who sought to halt the development of three oil and gas fields.

Greenpeace and others had sued the Norwegian government to prevent the development of the new oil and gas resources, in the latest legal dispute linked to global climate change.

A lower court ruled in January that Norway's energy ministry failed to fully assess the climate impact from the future use of the fields' oil and gas, so-called scope three emissions, in a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and its partner Nature and Youth.

At that time, the court also ordered temporary injunctions against the development of the three fields known as Yggdrasil, Tyrving and Breidablikk.

But the appeals court in March put the injunctions on hold, giving the government and field operators Aker BP and Equinor leeway to continue working on the fields.

In September the government asked the appeals court to lift the injunctions, part of a wider effort by Oslo to overturn the lower court's verdict.

The appeals court on Monday said it had attached considerable importance in its decision to democratic considerations and to the court's right of review.

"The concrete decisions to deal with the climate crisis, including a possible shutdown of petroleum activities, must primarily be made by parliament and the government," the court said in its ruling.

Norway, which derives one quarter of its gross domestic product from oil and gas, says that while it seeks to pump hydrocarbons for decades to come it is complying with the Paris climate accords seeking to limit global warming.

Equinor's Breidablikk field started production in October 2023, while Aker BP's Tyrving began production in September this year, drawing criticism from the environmentalists.