Norway's top court to hear appeal in landmark oilfield climate case

Norway's government is set to argue before the Supreme Court on Monday that it should overturn lower court decisions which invalidated development permits for three oilfields due to inadequate climate assessments.

The legal challenge pits environmental groups against the country's oil and gas industry, which accounts for roughly half of Norway's export earnings. The government has maintained a policy of continuing hydrocarbon extraction for the foreseeable future.

Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth first brought the case in 2023. Two lower courts sided with the activists, ruling that authorities failed to properly evaluate the environmental consequences of the projects.

The disputed fields are Equinor's Breidablikk and Aker BP's Tyrving and Yggdrasil. The first two are already producing, while Yggdrasil is scheduled to begin operations next year.

Campaigners argue the government ignored the climate impact of burning the extracted oil and gas—so-called Scope 3 emissions—and that later attempts to address this were invalid. The lower courts, however, did not order a halt to production during the legal process and suggested the government could fix the regulatory gaps.

In a note to the court, the Office of the Attorney General said the state would argue that additional assessments of foreign emissions now meet all legal requirements.

Norway produces about 2% of global oil and has become Europe's largest natural gas supplier since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, making it a key energy provider.

The Supreme Court hearing is scheduled to last four days, with a verdict expected later this year.