"This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris agreement. It is also a decade since another key moment in climate justice, when a state was ordered for the first time to cut its carbon emissions faster to protect its citizens from climate change. The Urgenda case, which was upheld by the Netherlands' supreme court in 2019, was one of the first rumblings of a wave of climate litigation around the world that campaigners say has resulted in a new legal architecture for climate protection."
"The year started with a bang when UK government approval of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea was ruled illegal by the Scottish court of session, because it did not account for greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning the extracted fossil fuels. The judgment relied heavily on a 2024 supreme court ruling in a climate case brought by campaigner Sarah Finch."
"The government published new guidance in June on how these assessments should be undertaken, although the ruling does not automatically prevent regulators from approving fossil fuel projects once they have fully analysed their impacts. Equinor published a revised environmental assessment of Rosebank in October and a decision on approval is imminent. The government has hinted that it may give consent again, and Greenpeace has vowed further legal action if that happens."
Landmark legal rulings over the past decade have accelerated a global shift in climate accountability and regulatory practice. Courts have required governments to consider emissions from burning extracted fossil fuels when granting approvals, overturning permissions for major oil, gas and coal projects. New legal precedents have led to withdrawn mining and coal proposals and prompted revised environmental assessments by developers. Governments have issued updated guidance on impact assessments, but regulators can still approve projects after full analysis. Campaigners and NGOs have pledged further legal challenges when approvals are reissued, and civil society pressure has contributed to cancellations of planned coal infrastructure.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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