“It just proves that the climate and ecological crisis cannot be solved within today’s systems,” Ms. Thunberg said. “There are no tools, no laws nor regulations that keep us from destroying the living conditions for life on this planet as we know it. In order to solve this crisis we need a whole new way of thinking.”
“The Supreme Court fails today’s young people when they give politicians the power to take from us a secure future,” Therese Hugstmyr Woie, a leader of Nature and Youth, said in a statement. “Now I expect Norwegian youth to set a record in turnout in September (it is election year) and that all adults with a touch of conscience think about climate and the environment in parliamentary elections.”
Frode Pleym, the head of Greenpeace Norway, also said in a statement it was “scary and absurd” that the right to a clean environment could not be used to stop harming Norway’s environment. “The majority in the Supreme Court has totally failed to show its independence from state administration and skips over the fact that researchers say that the climate can no longer tolerate oil,” Mr. Pleym said.
The ruling was cause for the Norwegian oil industry to celebrate, said Hans Petter Graver, a professor of law at the University of Oslo.
The decision, he said, rejected “the possibility of using specific cases as an instrument to attack the Norwegian climate policy.” The court ruled that “the effects of global warming are only relevant to the extent that they affect Norway,” he added, excluding the effects of oil exports from consideration.
“This means that Norway can continue building its wealth on oil and gas undisturbed by Norwegian courts,” he said. Mr. Graver previously predicted that a victory for the environmental groups could force Norway to phase out activities like oil exploration, which is a cornerstone of its economy.
In all, between 2015 and May 2020, 36 rights-based lawsuits have been brought against states for human rights violations related to climate change, according to the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.