The woman who bested Big Oil
Photo byClimate activism isn't the typical realm you associate notable eponymous court rulings with. But for Sarah Finch, victory in a five-year legal battle last June not only created a judgement in her name, but a strong precedent over the future of fossil fuel drilling projects in Britain. The 'Finch ruling' came after the supreme court decided in favour of the lifelong climate campaigner in her case against Surrey County Council, and its plans to grant planning permission for an oil drilling well on the Weald in Surrey. She successfully argued that existing planning laws meant that the 'downstream' emissions from the produce of proposed coal, oil and gas sites must be accounted for when considering projects for approval – not just ones generated by sites in of itself.
'The novelty hasn't worn off just yet,' Finch told me when we spoke via video call, nearly a year on from her landmark win. Openly shy about the relative notoriety that's come since, Finch is learning to process it in her own way: 'Almost on a daily basis I'll see my name in an article I'm reading, or the pictures of me outside the Supreme Court… sometimes I even wonder if I've entered some kind of delusional space [thinking]: 'Did this really happen?! Did I just imagine my name was on this case?''
It is hard to understate the collateral impact of the court ruling last June (which Finch put her name to, on behalf of the Weald Action Group). The ruling proved a death knell to the few fossil fuel projects vying for survival. Though the court's decision did not overturn Surrey County Council's initial approval of planning permission, UK Oil and Gas, the firm backing the project, indefinitely postponed production on Horse Hill, Surrey last October. Finch recalled being 'thrilled'. Plans to open a new coal mine in Cumbria – set to be Britain's first in 30 years – were quashed by the courts last September on the same grounds as the Finch ruling. It doesn't just impact big oil and gas projects: plans for a 'megafarm' in Norfolk were scrapped last month due to a 'lack of information' provided by its backing firm over its potential impact on ecology and the climate. ' I watched that planning meeting online and again, it's one of those cases where I just kept hearing my name mentioned: 'Finch means that we have to look at these indirect effects…' So it's been a really useful judgment all around,' the campaigner said. 'It's just clarified that any decision-maker deciding on any kind of development has to look at all of [its] effects on the climate, and they can't exclude any on arbitrary grounds.'
The most impactful 'Finch ruling' came in January, when Edinburgh's court of session scuppered previously approved plans to withdraw oil and gas from Rosebank and Jackdaw, two oil fields in the North Sea. The plans for Rosebank and Jackdaw – approved under the previous Conservative government between 2022-2023 – had a combined private big oil backing of over £3.3bn. A decision on a new planning application, with 'downstream' emissions factored in, is expected soon, which Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is expected to have a big say over. 'Legal wins are really powerful, but they're also vulnerable to politics,' Finch noted.
Miliband has long been a critic of Rosebank (previously calling it a 'colossal waste of taxpayer money and climate vandalism'). But he faces a pro-business Chancellor in Rachel Reeves desperate to plant seeds of growth in Britain's withering public finances. 'I really hope that they will reject it,' Finch said of the Labour government. 'I can't see any possible way in which anybody could look up the [potential] amount of emissions and say that that's okay,' she added. (Anti-North Sea oil campaigners cite research that claims its produce would emit more CO2 than the 28 poorest countries do in a year.) Finch hopes the government will listen to her and other climate campaigners that have responded to two government consultations on the future of North Sea oil and gas: ' It shouldn't just be about Rachel Reeves vs Ed Miliband. It's about the best brains in the country and what they've all said about it.' She added: ' We've seen fires, floods; farmers not being able to plant their crops… There's no doubt that oil and gas has brought us to the brink of a real crisis. Every new field [the government] allows – particularly one as big as Rosebank – just makes that worse.'
Despite her victory in the highest court in the land, Finch has an underlying anxiety about her judgement. 'I wanted to make sure that the ruling does get embedded into actual planning law and policies,' she said. This has meant responding to multiple consultations and supporting other localised groups with campaigning.
But the surge of Reform councillors following the local elections has likely dawned a new era of localised anti-net zero zeal. The May 1 elections 'were a set of truly terrible results,' Finch said. Reform wrested control of Lincolnshire County Council – with new metro mayor Andrea Jenkyns, as well as MP and deputy leader Richard Tice in tow – and has pledged to block its local 'net stupid zero' industry, which generates nearly £1bn for the local economy. In recent days, Jenkyns expressed support to revive a shale gas fracking proposal in Lincolnshire that was quashed last November following – you guessed it – Finch's ruling.
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'What some of those Reform councils don't understand is that their job is to implement national planning policies,' Finch said. 'They can't just wave things through; they still have to go through the proper processes.' The Labour government has been defiant on Reform's plans, repeating the mantra that they are 'on the side of the builders, not the blockers'. 'We're at a really difficult time,' Finch said, 'it's sad that the climate has got sucked into culture wars, again.'
But she still remains optimistic. The local elections also saw a 'big wave of support' for Liberal Democrat and Green councillors. Zack Polanski this week catalysed his bid to become leader of the Green Party this summer, calling to cultivate a eco-populist movement that rivals Reform. 'The progressive parties must properly respond', Finch stressed, but noted in her quintessential modesty, 'I'm not a very populist type person myself'.
What does the future hold for her? 'So long as I've got a platform and people want to talk to me – I, uh, am up for it,' she said after pausing for thought.
While she won't be at the forefront of any future populist movement of the eco-focused left, Finch's name will perhaps be seen as a very important footnote in its history, and that seems suited to her humble disposition. 'I'm not an expert on anything, a climate scientist, lawyer, or a politician,' she concluded, 'I'm a campaigner that happened… to get the accidental profile I've got. And I want to use it to help however I can.'
This article was originally published as an edition of the Green Transition, New Statesman Spotlight's weekly newsletter on the economics of net zero. To see more editions and subscribe, click here.
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