Greenpeace UK and Campaigners Win Right to Campaign Against Support for Fossil Fuel Industry

Despite hosting the 2021 G7 summit, and COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) later this year, the UK government is coming under fire for its apparently lacklustre efforts in the fight against climate change.  Conservative MP and President of COP26 Alok Sharma has said that “We can’t afford to wait two years, five years, 10 years – this is the moment,” while also showing support for additional oil exploration off the Shetlands, and a new coal mine in Cumbria.

In July the High Court agreed to allow a judicial review against the Oil and Gas Authority, the group which earlier set out a plan to further the production of North Sea oil and gas, which is at odds with moving the UK to a net zero carbon future.

A campaign group, which includes Greenpeace UK and Friends of the Earth Scotland, argues that the OGA strategy doesn’t account for the significant amount of public money that subsidises the industry, and that continuing support for the OGA’s strategy falls foul of the UK’s legal binding obligations to reduce its contribution to climate change.  The campaigners’ legal team is making the additional point that the government’s support of OGA’s plans would not benefit the UK economy and unlawfully contradicts the government’s obligation to act on climate change.

It is anticipated that the case will be heard towards the end of 2021, with a decision being made early on in 2022.