Norway appeals against climate-friendly Oslo Court judgement

The Norwegian State has appealed against the Oslo District Court judgement which found approvals of three oil fields in the North Sea invalid. The historic win was secured by Greenpeace Nordic and Natur og Ungdom (Young Friends of the Earth Norway).

“The fact that the State is appealing against the judgement is a shame, but there is no reason to believe that the outcome in the Appeals Court will be any different than the District Court’s. In any case, the injunctions for the three fields are enforceable. This means that development and production must stop on all three fields regardless of a new round in Court. We have a very strong case and are ready to fight for this on behalf of future and current generations,” said Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace in Norway.

The judgement, delivered by Oslo District Court on 18 January 2024, found the approvals of all three oil and gas fields invalid and issued an injunction forbidding the State from granting any new permits necessary to construct and produce from the fields.

The Court confirmed that the government violated legal precedent from the Norwegian Supreme Court, by not assessing the global climate effects of the three Norwegian oil and gas fields, when combusted abroad, before their approval.

The State’s grounds for appeal are not yet publicly known. 

“The Norwegian government is yet again showing that it does not care about either the climate or democracy. We are disappointed that the State does not want to acknowledge their legally bound duty to assess the climate impacts of Norwegian oil and gas, but we are convinced that the Court of Appeal will uphold the verdict from Oslo District Court,” said Gytis Blaževičius, head of Natur og Ungdom

In November 2023, environmental organisation Greenpeace Nordic and youth group Natur og Ungdom took the Norwegian State to Court. The organisations argued that recent approvals of three new oil and gas fields, Breidablikk, Yggdrasil and Tyrving, all in the North Sea, violate the Norwegian Constitution, European Economic Area law and Norway’s international human rights commitments. They also argued the Ministry of Energy failed to consider the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child during the approval of the fields, thus rendering the approvals invalid.