Climate litigation and the legal risks for Equinor

Environmental organisations and activists are increasingly turning to the courts to ensure that companies and governments act in line with climate science and climate justice. Equinor’s oil and gas projects have faced an increasing number of legal challenges in recent years, including in Norway, Argentina, Canada and the UK. Recent wins in climate lawsuits signals hope for how climate litigation can be an important tool in the fight for climate justice and climate accountability.

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Landmark climate litigation victories signal hope for climate justice

Oil and gas majors such as Equinor continue to double down on oil and gas production despite climate scientists warning that we have to leave fossil fuels in the ground if we are to avoid climate breakdown. Climate groups and environmental organisations are increasingly using climate litigation to hold fossil fuel companies and governments accountable.

Recent months have seen a number of landmark victories in climate lawsuits, from the Finch case in the UK to the Klimaseniorinnen ruling in the European Court of Human Rights. Notable climate litigation victories include:

In August 2023, a judge ruled in favour of young Montana residents who claimed the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies violated their right to a clean and healthy environment.
In January 2024, Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth Norway (Natur and Ungdom) secured a landmark ruling in Oslo District Court. Three oil field licences were found be invalid as the government failed to take into account global climate impacts. Equinor is the operator on one of the fields, Breidablikk in the North Sea.
In April 2024, the association of the Swiss Senior Women for Climate Protection, whose members took action against Switzerland for violating their human rights by failing to set sufficient climate targets, won a historic victory at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This is a historic win for climate accountability.
In June 2024, the Supreme Court in the UK ruled that a local council should have considered the full climate impact of burning oil from new wells before approving a new onshore fossil fuel project. The case brought against Surrey County Council by Sarah Finch could have serious implications for all new fossil fuel developments in the country. Campaigners are also celebrating the potential impact the ruling could have on the legal challenges against Equinor’s Rosebank oil field.

The growing number of climate lawsuits clearly show the huge legal risk of new oil and gas projects, and has the potential to cast serious doubt among investors.

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Legal cases against Equinor’s fossil fuel projects

Despite branding itself as a ‘broad energy company’ committed to the energy transition, Equinor continues to pursue new oil and gas reserves around the world. Equinor’s proposed oil and gas projects in Norway, Argentina, UK and Canada are facing huge public opposition including climate litigation.

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Equinor’s oil field among three ruled illegal by Norwegian court

In Norway, the approval of Equinor’s Breidablikk field in the North Sea was among three oil field approvals challenged by Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth Norway (Natur og Ungdom) for failing to take into account the global climate impacts. In a landmark ruling, Oslo District Court found the approvals of all three oil and gas fields invalid and issued an injunction forbidding the State from granting any new permits necessary to construct and produce from the fields. Despite the ruling, Equinor has continued operation on the Breidablikk field, which commenced production in the autumn of 2023. The Norwegian state is currently appealing the verdict.

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Legal challenges delaying Equinor’s exploitation of the Argentine Sea

Equinor obtained the most exploration licences in the Argentine Sea following the first licensing round completed in 2018/2019. Despite huge concerns about the impact on biodiversity, marine species and local people, Equinor is leading the industry in opening a new fossil fuel frontier in the region.

Equinor has faced huge protests and opposition in Argentina. Since 2022, a broad coalition of NGOs and grassroots organisations, have launched multiple legal challenges and injunctions against the state’s approval of the offshore exploration activities in the Argentine Sea. This managed to delay the oil exploration for almost two years and cast serious doubts about the robustness of the impact assessments of the climate and nature impact of the projects, and the lack of opportunity for local people to be heard in the consultation process.

In 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the exploration activity could once again go ahead. This is currently being appealed.

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Indigenous groups launch climate lawsuit against Equinor’s Bay du Nord project

Despite huge protest and controversy, Equinor is pursuing the gigantic offshore project Bay du Nord, off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in eastern Canada. More than 126 environmental and citizens organisations, scientists and academics have joined the campaign to stop this climate-wrecking project.

In 2022, Ecojustice on behalf of Équiterre, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, and Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Incorporated (MTI), an organisation which represents eight Mi’gmaq communities in New Brunswick Canada, filed a climate lawsuit to overturn the Canadian government’s approval of Bay du Nord. The claimants argued that the federal government neglected its duty to meaningfully consult Indigenous communities, failed to account for the downstream emissions of the project, and the risk of spills on their salmon fishery.

Bay du Nord has become a symbol of Canada and Equinor's hypocrisy on climate action, biodiversity protection and indigenous rights.

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Legal challenge could mean the end for the Rosebank oil field

Equinor wants to develop the biggest undeveloped oil field in the UK, Rosebank. It would produce more CO2 than the world’s 28 low-income countries do in a year combined, and see profits flow to a company contributing to the illegal occupation of Palestine.

Following the UK government’s approval of Rosebank in September 2023, Uplift and Greenpeace UK announced that they are mounting two separate legal challenges seeking to overturn the UK government’s decision. The campaign groups have both applied to the Court of Session in Edinburgh for a judicial review of the decision by the Energy Secretary and the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), legally known as the Oil and Gas Authority, to grant consent to the project.

The organisations argue that Rosebank’s approval is unlawful because it ignores the impact of emissions from burning Rosebank’s oil, it is not compatible with the government’s plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions and achieve a safe climate, and it would damage a protected area of the North Sea and the diverse marine life it supports. The recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court in the Finh case could have significant implications for the cases against Rosebank. The cases are expected to be heard in autumn/winter 2024.

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Climate litigation and the legal risks for Equinor

The ongoing legal cases against Equinor’s projects expose the legal risks associated with new oil and gas projects. Furthermore, the climate lawsuits and protests against Equinor’s projects clearly show the Norwegian government that Equinor is not acting in line with the state’s expectations of state-owned companies or Norway’s global climate commitments.

As momentum behind climate litigation continues to grow, we’re likely to see it becoming an ever more important tool in the fight for climate justice and climate accountability.

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Find out more about the Equinor Out coalition and get involved.