Scottish court rules against two new North Sea oil and gas fields

A Scottish court on Thursday ruled against the development of two oil and gas fields in the North Sea in a "historic win" for two environmental groups.

Scotland's Court of Session agreed with campaign groups Uplift and Greenpeace and ruled that the previous UK government's approvals for the multi-billion-pound Rosebank and Jackdaw fields were unlawful as they did not consider the carbon emissions the projects would indirectly generate.

Judge Andrew Stewart, who presided over the judicial review, said he had considered all the circumstances and concluded in favour of granting "reduction", a legal term for revoking approval. British energy major Shell and Norway's Equinor, the majority owner of Rosebank oil field will now have to resubmit their environmental impact assessments.

The decision follows a ruling by the UK Supreme Court in June that greenhouse gas emissions indirectly generated by a business -- known as Scope 3 or downstream emissions -- must be taken into account.