SCOTLAND’S highest court has upheld environmental campaigners’ legal challenge to the granting of licences for two new oil and gas fields in the North Sea.

Taking their case to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Greenpeace and Uplift argued that the effects of downstream burning of fuel extracted from the Rosebank oil field, north-west of Shetland, and the Jackdaw gas field, off Aberdeen, had not been considered when licences to exploit them were issued in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

They insisted that this rendered unlawful the North Sea Transtition Authority (NSTA) decisions to grant permissions to oil and gas giants Shell, Equinor and Ithaca on behalf of the then Tory government.

Now, in a historic ruling, presiding judge Lord Ericht has agreed. 

Publishing his opinion today, he granted a “reduction” preventing oil and gas extraction from the fields, effectively withdrawing the licences and until they can be reconsidered.

He said: “The public interest in authorities acting lawfully and the private interest of members of the public in climate change outweigh the private interest of the developers.”

Shell reacted by calling for “swift action” from the government on the matter, while Equinor and Ithaca, joint partners in the Rosebank field, claimed to be “pleased with the outcome” and said they would “await new consents.”

Uplift executive director Tessa Khan said: “This is a significant win which means that Rosebank cannot go ahead without accounting for its enormous climate harm.”

Greenpeace UK senior campaigner Philip Evans added: “This is a historic win. The age of governments approving new drilling sites by ignoring their climate impacts is over.

“The courts have agreed with what climate campaigners have said all along: Rosebank and Jackdaw are unlawful and their full climate impacts must now be properly considered.

“Fossil fuels are an economic dead end.

“Now that the ball is back in the government’s court, ministers have the opportunity to sort out the legal mess left by their predecessors.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said it would take time to “carefully consider” the ruling. 

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We will respond to this consultation as soon as possible and developers will be able to apply for consents under this revised regime.”