A Norwegian appeals court ruled in favour of environmentalists and against the government on Friday by confirming a lower court's decision that the energy ministry's approval of the development of three offshore oil and gas fields was invalid.
But output from the affected oilfields would not be halted, the court said, adding that the government would get a six-month period in which it could seek to rectify the shortcomings in its original field approvals.
"The Court of Appeal believes that the climate impacts from combustion emissions have neither been sufficiently investigated nor assessed," the Borgarting court said in a statement.
The lawsuit brought by Greenpeace Norway and Young Friends of the Earth Norway in 2023 concerns the approval of Equinor's Breidablikk and Aker BP's Tyrving and Yggdrasil fields.
Two fields - Breidablikk and Tyrving - are already producing, while Yggdrasil, Norway's largest offshore petroleum project since 2019, is scheduled to come on stream in 2027.
Equinor, Aker BP and the Norwegian Energy Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reuters)