Greenpeace v. North Sea Transition Authority

In July 2022, Greenpeace filed a legal challenge against the North Sea Transition Authority’s (previously the Oil and Gas Authority) approval of the Jackdaw gas field development project (Jackdaw). The Jackdaw field is located in the North Sea, off the east coast of Scotland, and is owned by BG International, an affiliate of Shell UK Limited. The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is a private company owned by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Plans for the project were previously rejected on the grounds of potential environmental harms but were resubmitted by Shell this year. After the Offshore Petroleum Regulatory for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), the UK’s oil and gas regulatory agency, reviewed Jackdaw’s environmental statement and found that it would not have a significant impact on the environment, NTSA approved the project. Greenpeace claims that OPRED did not factor the CO2 emissions that would be produced by burning the gas extracted from Jackdaw in its impact assessment of the project, and therefore its approval should be revoked. According to media reports, BEIS has stated that Jackdaw “will boost domestic gas supply in the years to come”. In these same reports, Greenpeace has countered that there is “no guarantee” that the gas produced from Jackdaw will be consumed in the UK and contribute to alleviating the UK’s current energy crisis, given that Shell is under no obligation to supply the UK with gas produced from the project. A March 2023 news article suggests the claim has been stayed pending the Supreme Court’s decision in R(Finch) v Surrey County Council [2022] 8 WLUK 327. Full case documents will be added as they become available.