After the environmental groups Greenpeace and Nature and Youth taken legal action against the Norwegian government in an attempt to stop oil drilling in Norway’s Arctic waters back in 2018, an Oslo appeals court recently approved Norway’s plans for more oil exploration in the Arctic.
That means that Greenpeace lost the battle of stopping Norway from granting permission for oil drilling exploration in the Arctic sea.
According to Reuters, appeals court, in a unanimous verdict officially accepted Norway’s plans for more oil exploration operations in the Arctic, dismissing Greenpeace’s lawsuit.
Specifically, the above-mentioned lawsuit had argued that the given oil licenses in 2015-2016, violated the Paris Climate Agreement and the paragraph 112 of the Norwegian Constitution, which ensures that future generations will have a healthy and safe environment.
In light of the situation, Greenpeace noted that it would further appeal the case to Norway’s Supreme Court. “The court’s verdict is a big step in the right direction, and the reason is that the right to a healthy environment according to the constitution is acknowledged by the court of appeal” as Greenpeace Norway chief Frode Pleym told Reuters.
For the records, environmentalists’ request to take the case to the Supreme Court, after the ruling by the District Court back in 2018, was not accepted.
Still, the Court finds that the threshold for invalidating the oil drilling licences is not breached. The co-plaintiffs will appeal the judgement to Supreme Court, as it is clear that this necessitates further review by the judiciary.
…Frode Pleym said.
Concluding, it is the first case to challenge the drilling for oil and gas based on the Paris Agreement, and it is the first time the rights contained in Norwegian Constitutional Article §112 is invoked in court.
