The case of Greenpeace Nordic and Others v. Norway concerned the procedural aspect of the obligation to effectively protect individuals from the serious adverse effects of climate change on their life, health, well-being and quality of life in the context of petroleum exploration preceding extraction. On 10 June 2016 the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy awarded ten exploration licences to 13 private companies for petroleum gas production. A judicial review requested by the applicant organisations, Greenpeace Nordic and Young Friends of the Earth Norway, of the validity of that decision was unsuccessful. The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of the complaints introduced by the applicant organisations. The Court held, in particular, that when making a decision in the context of the environment and climate change, the State had to carry out an adequate, timely and comprehensive environmental impact assessment in good faith, and based on the best available science. While the processes leading to the 2016 decision had not been fully comprehensive and, in particular, the assessment of the activity’s climate impacts had been deferred, there was no indication that deferring such an assessment had been inherently insufficient to support the State’s guarantees of respect for private and family life within the meaning of the Convention. The Court also found the complaints introduced by the individual applicants under Article 8 and by all the applicants under Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 8 were inadmissible.

Reactie Greenpeace

Greenpeace schrijft in een reactie op de uitspraak dat het EHRM bevestigt dat een milieueffectbeoordeling noodzakelijk is. De organisatie schrijft dat hoewel het Hof op dit moment geen mensenrechtenschending vaststelt, het verwacht dat Noorwegen een volledige beoordeling uitvoert van de klimaatimpact bij het openen van nieuwe olie- en gasprojecten. Die beoordeling moet ook de uitstoot door verbranding, ongeacht waar die plaatsvindt, meenemen. Het niet uitvoeren van zo’n beoordeling wordt beschouwd als een schending van mensenrechten.

Case of Greenpeace Nordic and others v. Norway (Application no. 34068/21)

Bronenn: www.hudoc.echr.coe.int en www.greenpeace.org