Activists from the environmental organizations Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom had reported the Norwegian state to the court in Strasbourg, referring to the fact that Norway, with the licenses, breached the Council of Europe's Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a healthy environment.
But the European Court stands on the side of the Norwegian state. In the judgment, initial "deficiencies" in the decision-making process for the assessment of environmental impact are noted, but this should, according to the court, have been remedied within a reasonable time.
The government cannot continue to let oil companies avoid assessing the climate damage that new oil and gas fields will cause, says Sigrid Hoddevik Losnegård, leader of Natur og Ungdom, after the judgment.
The case concerns ten exploration licenses in the Barents Sea that the Norwegian Ministry of Energy issued in 2016. 13 companies were then granted licenses, including Norwegian Equinor (formerly Statoil), American Chevron and Russian Lukoil. However, no extractable reserves were found.
