Blow to government’s plan for more oil and gas drilling as High Court grants legal challenge

The government's plan for more oil and gas drilling has been dealt a major blow after the High Court said a legal challenge against it could proceed.

A judge on Tuesday evening granted Greenpeace's request for a judicial review of the policy on the basis of the climate impact of the drilling.

The campaigners argue that the government has failed to take into account the environmental effects of consuming the extracted fossil fuels – despite this making up 80 per cent of the emissions from the plan.

Fossil fuel companies have submitted applications for more than 100 licences to explore for new fossil fuels after the government last year gave them the green light.

The move to solicit the new drilling was taken by short-lived prime minister Liz Truss, a decision which could end up being one of her few lasting legacies if the review says it can go ahead.

The new licensing round, overseen by the North Sea Transition Authority, is the first since 2019-20 and since the UK hosted the Cop26 climate summit. It began in October last year and is expected to finish in June.

The decision by the court means government lawyers will have to go to court to argue their case and that they might have to revisit the decision.

"This verdict is the first real setback for the Government's reckless oil and gas licensing round," said Philip Evans, Greenpeace UK’s climate campaigner.

"Ministers will now be forced to justify in front of a judge why they want to unleash a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea against the advice of leading scientists and the UN chief, without assessing the climate impact.

“The Government already has the solutions to tackle the scandal of the cost of living, guarantee our energy security, and help the climate but the Government is ignoring them in favour of their friends in the fossil fuel industry. They must instead upgrade our old fashioned electricity grid, invest in cheap home grown renewables and stop energy waste from our homes.”

The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that exploration and development of new oil and gas fields needed to stop that year if the world wanted to reach net zero carbon by 2050 and keep climate change within manageable limits.

In March hundreds of the UK's leading scientists urged Rishi Sunak to halt the licensing of the oil and gas projects for the sake of the climate.

The government has been approached for a response on the court's decision. Ministers said ahead of the hearing that the new drilling will promote "energy security" and that "the transition to non-fossil forms of energy cannot happen overnight".