Supreme Court Issues Significant Judgment on the Assessment of Downstream Impacts under the EIA Regime

The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment on 20 June, ruling on the requirement to assess downstream greenhouse gas emissions as part of an environmental impact assessment for a planning application to expand oil production from a well site in Surrey.

In accordance with hitherto normal practice, the environmental statement did not assess the inevitable downstream impacts of the oil subsequently being used, burnt and generating emissions outside of the site. The Supreme Court has now ruled by a majority of 3-2 that this should have been assessed.

The judgment has potentially major implications for applications for gas and oil storage facilities and many other forms of development.

The judgment and related press release issued by the Supreme Court can be found here

For further information on this judgment, please contact the Planning and Environment team at Carson McDowell.