Court Overturns Approvals Of Rosebank And Jackdaw Oil And Gas Fields

A Scottish court has ruled that UK government approvals of offshore oil and gas fields were unlawful on the grounds that the downstream greenhouse gas emissions from burning the fuel were not taken into account. The ruling is a significant victory for climate campaigners challenging new fossil fuel projects over their climate impacts.

In a January 29 opinion, Lord Ericht of the Court of Session decided in favor of UK environmental groups that had contested the legality of the government’s consent to develop the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields. The groups Greenpeace UK and Uplift argued that the fields’ environmental impact assessment failed to consider the overall climate impact from producing the oil and gas, including the combustion or “Scope 3” emissions that would result from using the extracted fuels. The new UK government said in August last year that it would not defend against the legal challenge, following a UK Supreme Court judgment in June finding that a county council unlawfully did not account for downstream emissions in approving a drilling project in the Surrey countryside.

Given that the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields’ approvals were “admittedly unlawful,” Lord Ericht said the issue before the court was whether to allow development to continue anyway, or whether to invalidate the approvals and allow the government to reevaluate the projects taking into account the full scope of emissions. The court’s decision overturns the prior approvals, and leaves it up to regulators to issue a fresh decision on whether or not to grant consent to develop the fields. Preparatory work on the fields is allowed to resume in the meantime, but no extraction can take place.

“The public interest in authorities acting lawfully and the private interest of members of the public in climate change outweigh the private interest of the developers,” the court’s decision states.

The Jackdaw gas field, which the UK government approved in 2022, is located about 150 miles east of Aberdeen in the North Sea and would be developed by Shell. In a statement, the company said the court’s ruling “rightly allows work to progress on this nationally important energy project while new consents are sought.”  

The Rosebank oil field, located 80 miles west of Shetland in the North Atlantic, is the UK’s largest untapped oil field. Equinor would be the field’s main developer, and the UK government granted consent for the project in September 2023. An Equinor spokesperson said the company welcomes the court's ruling because it "allows us to continue with progressing the Rosebank project while we await new consents." The spokesperson said Equinor will work closely with government regulators to advance the project, including by submitting a downstream combustion emissions assessment "in full compliance with the government’s new environmental guidance which is targeted to be published this spring."

A "Historic Win"

Climate campaigners applauded the court's ruling.

“This is a significant win which means that Rosebank cannot go ahead without accounting for its enormous climate harm,” said Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift.

Philip Evans, senior campaigner at Greenpeace UK, called the decision a “historic win,” adding: “the age of governments approving new drilling sites by ignoring their climate impacts is over. The courts have agreed with what climate campaigners have said all along: Rosebank and Jackdaw are unlawful, and their full climate impacts must now be properly considered.”

“Today’s ruling is part of a clear trend we’re seeing from courts in the UK - marking the third time in the last year that judges have found that ‘downstream’ emissions must be considered in planning decisions,” Robert Clarke, a lawyer with ClientEarth, said in a statement.

Following the UK Supreme Court’s precedent-setting ruling on the need to consider downstream emissions in decisions on fossil fuel projects, the High Court in September quashed plans for development of the Whitehaven coal mine, finding the government’s planning permission failed to consider emissions from burning the coal.

“This is a resounding signal from the courtroom that companies and governments can no longer turn a blind eye to the vast majority of the emissions their coal, oil and gas fields create,” White added.

*January 31, 2025 - The article has been updated to include a response from Equinor that was received after publication.