(Adnkronos) – The Norwegian Supreme Court has annulled three oil licenses in the North Sea because their impact on climate emissions was not adequately assessed. Confirming the two first and second instance rulings, the Norwegian Supreme Court sided with climate activists, who had challenged the validity of the licenses, arguing that environmental impact assessments had not considered emissions from the combustion of oil after its extraction. “It is a historic victory for the climate and for Norwegian democracy,” Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle, head of the Norwegian section of Greenpeace, commented to AFP shortly after the announcement of the ruling.
On the occasion of this highly anticipated ruling, the Court met in plenary session: 11 judges participated instead of the usual five. This is a procedure reserved for cases of particular importance. The Supreme Court ruled that the extraction and project expansion plans were “invalid due to procedural defects.” In a note, it specified that, although emission assessments had been carried out, these exclusively concerned so-called production emissions and not the subsequent “combustion emissions.” According to the Court, “emissions from the combustion of extracted oil must be subjected to an impact assessment” before a project is approved. “Now major polluters will be forced to declare exactly how much they will contribute to the climate crisis we are experiencing,” said Tjeldflaat Helle.
