Norway’s ‘Urgenda’ moment? Greenpeace Nordic Ass’n v. Ministry of Petroleum and Energy

Between 4-12 November 2020 the Norwegian Supreme Court heard an appeal from environmental groups seeking the invalidation of the granting of licenses in 2016 to conduct exploratory drilling in the South and South East Barents Sea, an area on the Norwegian continental shelf spanning about 77 acres where oil and gas fields have recently been built. Companies were awarded licenses in 2016 to conduct exploratory drilling in the South and South East Barents Sea, an area on the Norwegian continental shelf spanning about 77 acres where oil and gas fields have recently been built. Parliament approved opening the area for exploration three years earlier.

Their action is brought under the Norwegian Constitution’s environmental provisions, art. 112, which were passed in 2014. They argue that exploratory drilling licenses violate a constitutional right to a healthy environment. They claim the oil-exploration plans were not fully researched before being approved and also rely on a previously unknown expert report throwing doubt on the economic benefit of drilling in the Barents Sea, which was commissioned by the government in 2013 but not passed onto the Parliament before its vote approving exploration in the Barents Sea. The Norwegian government has said that it fulfilled its constitutional duty by compensating for negative effects on the environment in other areas.

The action has failed in the lower courts, although both recognised the right of citizens to bring actions under the environmental provisions of the Constitution, with the higher court accepting that the right involved the impact from climate emissions — including those from oil and gas exported abroad, which is the case for most of Norway’s production.

The Norwegian government intends to continue requesting exploration licences and in June 2020 announced licensing awards in predefined areas (APA) 2020 which comprises blocks in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea.

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Professor Simon Baughen

Professor Simon Baughen was appointed as Professor of Shipping Law in September 2013 (previously Reader at the University of Bristol Law School). Simon Baughen studied law at Oxford and practised in maritime law for several years before joining academia. His research interests lie mainly in the field of shipping law, but also include the law of trusts and the environmental law implications of the activities of multinational corporations in the developing world. Simon's book on Shipping Law, has run to seven editions (soon to be eight) and is already well-known to academics and students alike as by far the most learned and approachable work on the subject. Furthermore, he is now the author of the very well-established practitioner's work Summerskill on Laytime. He has an extensive list of publications to his name, including International Trade and the Protection of the Environment, and Human Rights and Corporate Wrongs - Closing the Governance Gap. He has also written and taught extensively on commercial law, trusts and environmental law. Simon is a member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, a University Research Centre within the School of Law, and he currently teaches at Swansea on the LLM in:Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air; Charterparties Law and Practice; International Corporate Governance.

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