A court in Edinburgh has ruled that the former UK government’s go-ahead for the Rosebank oilfield off Shetland was unlawful.

The Court of Sessions ruled this morning that the decision did not take into account the greenhouse gas emissions from the use of the oil.

The decision on the smaller Jackdaw gasfield was also ruled to be unlawful for the same reason.

Legal challenges to the fields, brought by Uplift and Greenpeace UK, followed the landmark ruling on onshore oil and gas at the Supreme Court in 2024.

There, campaigner Sarah Finch and the Weald Action Group successfully argued that decision-makers should have taken into account the carbon emissions of using oil and gas extracted from the Horse Hill site in Surrey, as well as the emissions from the production process.

Today’s ruling means that decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw will return to the UK government to redetermine.

If Rosebank’s and Jackdaw’s operators go ahead with the projects, they must resubmit environmental statements which account for the full, downstream emissions.

Rosebank and Jackdaw were seeking production licences. The current government has promised not to grant any new exploration licences for oil and gas in the North Sea.

Development of the Rosebank field, operated by Equinor, was approved by the former Conservative government in September 2023.

It is the UK’s biggest undeveloped oilfield, with nearly 500m barrels of oil.

Sarah Finch said today:

“This is a huge win for the climate. Both the UK Supreme Court and the Scottish Court of Session have now ruled that it’s wrong to permit fossil fuel developments without assessing their full climate impacts – just as we argued all along.”

“The government must now recognise that the fossil fuel era is over. It must stop licensing new oil and gas projects, in the North Sea and onshore, and prioritise investment in energy efficiency, renewables, and a fair transition and green jobs for workers leaving the fossil fuel industry.” 

Alice Owen, of Weald Action Group, said:

“We are incredibly proud of our successful campaign on Horse Hill, which has turned the tide on UK fossil fuel developments. 

“But we’ll be keeping a close eye on the government as their oil and gas consultation concludes in the Spring. It is so important that this monumental progress towards energy transition is not reversed. Climate change is already here, but every fraction of a degree and every barrel of oil still counts.”

Tessa Khan, of the campaign group Uplift, described the ruling as “a milestone”. She said:

“This is a significant win which means that Rosebank cannot go ahead without accounting for its enormous climate harm.

“The continued burning of oil and gas is why we are seeing more extreme weather like Storm Eowyn and flooding that have claimed lives and caused hundreds of millions of pounds in damage and clean up costs, not to mention the devastation it’s causing in other countries. Most people are now joining the dots with endless oil and gas drilling and are worried about the future.”

“Rosebank is not the answer to energy security, lower bills or jobs. It would simply make obscenely rich oil companies even richer, while increasing the dangers for the rest of us.”

Philip Evans, of Greenpeace, described the judgment as “a historic win”.

“Fossil fuels are an economic dead end. Now that the ball is back in the government’s court, ministers have the opportunity to sort out the legal mess left by their predecessors. They should use this moment to set out a new path for the North Sea, reaffirming their commitment to no new oil and gas, and prioritising clean energy.”

A  spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the government had already consulted on revised environmental guidance to take into account emissions from burning extracted oil and gas, and is expected to report back in the spring.

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