Climate Legal Challenges

> Climate Legal Challenges

Cornerstone Barristers has some of the most highly regarded barristers involved in environmental legal challenges, frequently instructed in high profile cases at the Supreme Court, High Court and Court of Appeal.

Recent highlights of our work include:

  • Finch v Surrey County Council (Supreme Court case). A hugely significant case for environmental law and climate change concerning the question of whether, when considering an application for the commercial extraction of oil, Surrey County Council should have required an assessment of the emissions likely to be caused by the use of products manufactured from the extracted crude, and their impact on the climate. (Estelle Dehon KC, Harriet Townsend, Ruchi Parekh, Nina Pindham, Alex Williams, David Welsh).
  • Carbon Budget Delivery Plan. A judicial review challenge by Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project to the lawfulness of the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan, which the High Court found to be unlawful requiring the Secretary of State to produce a new plan within 12 months. (Robert Williams, Nina Pindham)
  • The government’s Net Zero Strategy. In this legal challenge, the High Court held that the UK Government did not comply with requirements under the Climate Change Act 2008 to produce policies and proposals that will enable net zero to be met by 2050, and to report on those policies in a transparent way to Parliament when it produced its flagship Net Zero Strategy in advance of COP26. (Nina Pindham)
  • Rosebank oilfield. Greenpeace and the campaign group Uplift argue that the decision to move forward with the development is incompatible with the UK’s legally binding climate commitments and say ministers’ original analysis ignored the devastating impact of burning oil from the site. James Findlay KC is acting for Uplift while David Welsh is acting for Greenpeace.
  • The Mariana Case. Claim before the Technology and Construction court in which 620,000 Brazilian claimants have brought proceedings against BHP Group relating to the collapse of the Fundão Dam. Whilst this is not a case concerning climate change, the Mariana case is one of a number of group litigation claims currently being brought in the English courts against English-domiciled parent companies for environmental damage overseas. The Mariana case may set a broader precedent for future group climate litigation against major emitters domiciled in England, for damage caused abroad. (Hannah Taylor)
  • Balcombe hydrocarbon exploration. A statutory challenge to the grant of planning permission for exploration and appraisal works with an extended well test for hydrocarbons at an existing well site at Lower Stumble, Balcombe. Permission granted to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Tom Cosgrove KC and Ben Du Feu acted for the Secretary of State. Ruchi Parekh is instructed by the appellant residents association.
  • Challenge to UK government’s oil and gas expansion plans. This challenge by a leading UK climate change non-governmental organisation, Uplift, to the government’s UK Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment, which concluded that a policy allowing new seaward oil and gas licensing would not have significant environmental impacts. (Estelle Dehon KC, Ruchi Parekh)
  • Whitehaven coal mine. The statutory review of the controversial decision by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to approve the first new coal mine in the UK for over 30 years, purportedly the world’s first ‘Net Zero’ coal mine. (Estelle Dehon KC, Rowan Clapp)
  • Solar farm appeals belatedly contended as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP). A significant challenge brought by two planning authorities against the Planning Inspector’s decision that it had jurisdiction to determine appeals in respect of solar farms under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The authorities unsuccessfully contended that the solar farm development was NSIP, which needed to be determined under the Planning Act 2008. (Ryan Kohli)
  • HS2 tunnelling in the Chilterns. A judicial review claim brought by local residents in the Chilterns challenging the Environment Agency’s decision to grant consent for a twin tunnel for the purposes of the HS2 project. Planning permission was refused in November 2021. (Lisa Busch KC)