Climate groups launch legal challenges to stop Rosebank oil field project

Greenpeace UK and Uplift have begun legal action to challenge the government’s plans of opening a new oil field in the North Sea.

The climate campaign groups have issued the legal challenges separately, saying that the plans are not compatible with the UK's legal target to reach net zero and ignore the devastating impact of burning oil from the site on marine environments.

If successful, the challenges could see the project reduced in size or even scrapped.

Located 80 miles north-west of Shetland, Rosebank is the UK’s largest untapped oil field. It is estimated to contain up to 300 million barrels of oil.

“If Rosebank goes ahead, the UK will blow its own plans to stay within safe climate limits," said Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift. “It’s that simple. If the government disagrees, it needs to provide evidence and prove it in court.”

The field was given the green light in September, and has since attracted widespread criticism because of its future impact on the UK's carbon emissions. According to Equinor’s estimates, the Rosebank project will be able to produce roughly 69,000 barrels of oil and 44 million cubic feet of gas per day at the peak of its operations.

The campaigners argue that not only is the project unlawful, but that it will also fail to cut household energy bills as most of the oil produced by the site will be exported.

“The regulator also needs to be open about its reasons for approving a huge oil field when we’re facing a worsening climate crisis,”  Khan added. “And for what? Rosebank is getting billions in tax breaks, but it will do nothing to lower bills or boost UK energy security as it’s mostly oil for export. People have had enough of oil and gas companies getting their way all the time. This case is about forcing our government to put the public’s safety first, over their need to profit.”

Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director Areeba Hamid said: “Rosebank’s development was approved under the false claim that it is entirely compatible with the UK’s legally binding climate commitments. This is a lie.

“The government used a rigged climate assessment to approve its development, deliberately ignoring all the emissions that will come from burning the barrels of oil it contains. It’s like building a bomb and claiming it’s completely harmless so long as no one detonates it.”

A government spokesperson responded by saying it "strongly reject[s] these claims and will robustly defend any such challenge”.

“The UK is a world leader in reaching net zero – cutting emissions faster than any other major economy – and as the independent Climate Change Committee recognises, we will still need oil and gas as part of our energy mix.

“We will continue to back the UK’s oil and gas industry, which underpins our energy security, supports up to 200,000 jobs, and will provide around £50bn in tax revenue over the next five years – helping fund our transition to net zero.”

The Climate Change Committee recently said that the expansion of fossil fuel production is not in line with the UK’s legally binding net zero target and called on the government to make “unambiguous commitment to the fossil fuel phase-out, accepting that global reserves are already too great”.

The North Sea Transition Authority, which regulates the oil and gas industry, has also admitted that the sector is not on course to meet its 2030 target.

The court is expected to rule on the two cases in early 2024.

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