We’ve won. Government has today announced its new policy for the future of energy production in the UK following our legal challenge last year. We are pleased to say that the proposed new policy is better for our planet, for our children and for our grandchildren. 

Coal and oil-fired generation are out. Gas is being phased out. 

Fewer fossil fuel projects will now be rubber-stamped. 

It’s not perfect yet. And we know more can and must be done. For example, there is scope for Government to be pushed yet further on the timetable for phasing out gas in the public consultation. But in terms of using the law as a tool for social change, this is a win of real substance. 

Thanks to the support of hundreds of you, we’ve proven Government can be made to take the right steps to tackle the impending climate catastrophe and protect our children’s futures. It’s never too late. 

Since forcing Government to review the Energy National Policy Statement we have turned our attention to the out of date and polluting Airports National Policy Statement. Government has announced it won’t review that NPS and we think it needs to do so to meet its NetZero by 2050 obligation in the Climate Change Act. We’ve assembled a strong team to work on the case – and we will deploy the same legal arguments as we did on the Energy NPS. We hope they will achieve the same result. 

As COP26 draws closer, we’re challenging Government to prove to people, both here and around the world, that it means what it says on climate change.

If you are in a position to do so you can support the legal challenge here. Thank you so much for your backing to date. We couldn’t do it without you.

We are grateful too, to our co-claimants Dale Vince and George Monbiot, without whom this challenge would not have been possible. 

Back in October we told you that, following our judicial review with leading environmentalists George Monbiot and Dale Vince, Government had conceded the need to review the Energy National Policy Statement that allows new fossil fuel projects to be forced through the planning system.

We are pleased to report that Government has - at last - confirmed in its Energy White Paper that it will review the Energy National Policy Statement.

This is an important victory for all of us deeply concerned about the mounting climate crisis, and a significant advance in the battle to ensure Government upholds its national and international obligations to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

We had expected to be in Court this week, but due to Government’s assurances that they will bring forward their decision on the Energy NPSs to late November/ early December, the judge has adjourned our hearing until January. 

If the Government decision is not forthcoming by December, the judge has ordered that the hearing must be rescheduled for January 2021 - rather than March as Government had requested. The Judge considered the case to be both significant and urgent given that there are a series of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Energy projects awaiting approval under the current policy framework challenged by us. 

The National Policy Statements for energy infrastructure were published back in 2011 and set out Government’s strategy for meeting the energy needs of the country. The approach is wildly out of date - still forcing a presumption in favour of fossil fuels and failing to take into account a number of commitments by the Government to tackle the climate crisis, including in the Paris Agreement and the Net-zero by 2050 commitment enacted by Parliament in 2019.

With your backing we have forced Government into reviewing this policy much sooner than they would have ever done otherwise. 

Thank you for your continued support. 

The Government has at last accepted it must review its outdated energy policy that has allowed fossil fuel projects to be forced through. This important concession from Government can be read here.

The policy in question was published back in 2011 and sets out the Government’s strategy for meeting the energy needs of the country. But it forces a presumption in favour of fossil fuels and fails to take into account a number of commitments by the Government to tackle the climate crisis, including in the Paris Agreement and the Net-zero by 2050 commitment enacted by Parliament in 2019.

It has meant that approval to frack in Lancashire or permission for a Gas-fired power station can be forced through, without regard for our national and international commitments – or the needs of the planet. As we teeter on the brink of climate crisis, the commitment from Government to review this policy has been hard-won and essential.

But it does not go far enough. We claimed not only that Government should review the Energy National Policy Statement – a claim that the Secretary of State has conceded – but also that the NPS should be suspended whilst the review is carried out. Unless Government concedes on this point too we will continue with the remainder of our challenge. The letter from our legal team to Government can be read here.

For those of us terrified of the impending climate catastrophe, this is an important victory and proof that the law is a powerful tool to force the Government to fulfil its obligations. Litigation of this scale and importance is undeniably difficult and success is never certain. But we have been able to take it on thanks to your support. 

We are pleased to report that the Court has accepted our suggestion of a ‘rolled up’ hearing – one which takes the permission and merits stage of the judicial review together - on this hugely important challenge to the Energy NPS. The Energy NPS creates a planning bias in favour of huge carbon emitting fossil fuel projects like Drax and against smaller scale renewable energy infrastructure. The rolled up hearing will take place, we understand, in the week commencing 9 November 2020.

In the meantime, Good Law Project continues to back challenges to fossil fuel projects decided on the basis of that NPS including, recently, an appeal against the grant of permission to a gas peaking plant in Devon.

Jo Maugham QC

We have now issued proceedings for judicial review after the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it is not appropriate to review its outdated energy policy at this time. 

The Energy National Policy Statements force planning decision makers to presume in favour of fossil fuel developments and fails to take into account a number of commitments by Government to tackle carbon emissions, including in the Paris Agreement and the Netzero by 2050 commitment enacted by Parliament in 2019. 

In an exchange of pre-action letters, the Government initially claimed that the Secretary of State had been thinking about whether to review the National Policy Statements since July 2018. But when we probed further we were told that in fact the Secretary of State had never personally thought about whether to review the policy, and that they would not even ask the Secretary of State whether he thinks it is appropriate to review the policies for at least another year. Our challenge now  extends to this assumption of authority by civil servants.

The grounds for the judicial review can be found here. More information on the case, including witness statements from Dale Vince, Chief Executive of Ecotricity, George Monbiot, journalist and environmentalist and Good law Project can be found here. 

We are teetering on the brink of a climate catastrophe. We think the evidence is such that as a matter of law the National Policy Statement needs to be changed. However the Government - civil servant or minister - is refusing even to agree it should be reviewed for possible change and that can't be right. Our legal challenge will seek to change that. Thank you for supporting this case.

We have now heard back from the Secretary of State.

He has told us his officials accept they must consider rewriting the Government’s existing strategic plan for our energy sector requiring a presumption in favour of fossil fuel developments. But we don’t think that’s good enough. It seems to us that, in light of the Paris Agreement and Parliament’s commitment to NetZero by 2050, Government must actually rewrite the strategic plan; they must ditch that presumption; they must remove the structural bias against smaller scale renewable energy projects.

We have written back asking them when they will conclude their review. We expect to issue proceedings late next week.