Greenpeace can take its legal challenge against the UK government over new oil and gas licences to a full hearing, a court has ruled. The institutional win came as German climate activists blocked the roads of Berlin to demonstrate for stricter green measures, just hours after being released by the police for causing widespread disruption on Tuesday.
Britain last year held its first licensing round for offshore oil and gas since 2019, receiving over 100 bids. Greenpeace was quick to announce its intention to challenge the move, which it described as “disastrous.” In particular, it argued that regulators should consider emissions not just from the extraction of the materials but also from their burning further down the line. Following this week’s ruling from London’s High Court, activist Philip Evans celebrated that “ministers will now be forced to justify in front of a judge why they want to unleash a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea.”
The tide appears to already be turning, with Sir Keir Starmer committing to adding no further investment in oil and gas should Labour win a general election, and the coal-cutting Conservative Party also pledging to transform Britain into a “clean energy superpower.” The emboldening of Greenpeace in the courts could speed up the long phasing out of fossil power, but the signs suggest this was already on its way. Ahead of the ruling, a spokesman for the government highlighted that ministers are keen to “transition to non-fossil forms of energy,” but stressed that this “cannot happen overnight.”
German politicians, who have just shut down their production of nuclear energy, are also being pushed to act quicker than they have outlined, though by rather different forces.
Protesters from the “Letzte Generation” (Last Generation) were yesterday taken into custody after glueing themselves to roads, preventing Berliners from getting to work, blocking emergency services (including at least 17 ambulances), and injuring four police officers. But hours after their release, “hundreds” of demonstrators were at it again on Wednesday. Police urged the public to “stay calm and not intervene,” but, as journalist Mick Hume highlighted in a recent piece in the Mail: “The longer these protests go on without attracting proper punishment, the more we will see ordinary people stepping in where the police and the courts so often refuse to.” He added:
For the legal system has apparently become a revolving door for green fanatics, who can go from protest to courtroom and back again almost without stopping. It is little wonder that the eco-activists don’t fear the law.
Footage from across Europe, including this week from Berlin, shows frustrated citizens putting it on themselves to shift road blockers. Mr. Hume warns that unless something changes soon, “It could get nasty.”
