A NORWEGIAN appeals court ruled today that the government can approve oil-drilling licences in the Arctic despite attempts by environmental groups to stop them.

The court upheld a ruling which acquitted the government of charges — made by climate groups Nature and Youth and Greenpeace Nordic — that drilling for oil and gas in Arctic waters would violate the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, as well as the Norwegian constitution.

Lawyer Fredrik Sejersted, representing the government, argued that the allotting of licences in the Barents Sea had been considered several times in the Storting, Norway’s supreme legislature, and was backed by a large majority.

He warned the court against tipping the balance of power between elected officials and the justice system.

The groups had sued the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in an attempt to invalidate the latest round of production licences to 13 international oil companies.

Though it didn’t block the licences, the court upheld the constitutional right to a healthy environment and the groups now plan to take an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Greenpeace Norway head Frode Pleym said: “We are happy the Norwegian Court of Appeals acknowledges current and future generations’ right to a healthy environment and that right also includes the duty to take into account the full emissions from the burning of Norwegian oil, wherever that takes place.

“This is an important legal victory on the right to a healthy environment under the Norwegian constitution.”

Nature and Youth head Therese Woie said: “This is a big step closer to guaranteeing our future and sending a message that we can’t afford to drill for new oil.

“The court is standing behind the constitutional right to a healthy environment and finding that the Norwegian government could be responsible for emissions made by Norwegian oil burned abroad.

“People, government and polluting industries across the world should take note — this is what can be achieved by a growing and powerful youth and environmental movement who are determined to take ownership of their human right to a sustainable future.”

Norway is the seventh-biggest exporter of climate-wrecking emissions on the planet and the country is drilling more oil wells than ever before.