Environmental campaigners are hoping to announce at Cop29 that they’ve halted two major oil and gas fields in the North Sea. A crucial court battle over the fate of the the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields began in the Court of Session in Edinburgh today.
The greens smell victory over evil fossil fuel companies. But closing these two fields won’t advance net zero by a single day since we will still have to import oil and gas from abroad.
Shell, Equinor and Ithaca had received consent from the North Sea Transiton Authority last September to proceed with drilling in the fields following an environment impact assessment (EIA). However, Greenpeace and Uplift, who are bringing the judicial review, argue that is unlawful because it didn’t take into account the environmental impact of burning the oil and gas down stream, when it is used as fuel. The UK government agrees with them, it seems.
Keir Starmer is not contesting the claim that the drilling in Jackdaw and Rosebank is unlawful and seems to be leaving it to the fossil fuel companies to make the case for continuing.
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