Legal case launched over UK's outdated policies on fossil fuels
Climate campaigners issued proceedings for a judicial review of the energy planning policies of the UK government on Monday to challenge “outdated” regulations that are used to approve fossil fuel projects.
The government faces a legal challenge after officials refused to overhaul the rules that support major fossil fuel power plants, mining or fracking despite the government’s commitment to go carbon neutral.
The campaigners claim that the policies, which were put in place almost a decade ago to avert risk of blackouts, undermine the government’s promises to tackle carbon emissions.
The policies are still being used to justify fossil fuel projects, including the controversial plans for a new gas plant at the Drax site in north Yorkshire.
Drax won permission to convert two of its coal-fired power units to burn gas, despite inspectors warning the plant would undermine the UK’s climate goals.
Jolyon Maugham, a director at the Good Law Project, said: “We are teetering on the brink of a climate catastrophe. Yet the government is refusing to even commit to a review of an outdated energy policy that permits fossil fuel projects to be forced through. Our legal challenge seeks to change that.”