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Oslo (dpa) - Greenpeace and other environmentalists have failed with their years of struggle against oil drilling in the Arctic before the Norwegian Supreme Court.
The court in Oslo dismissed the plaintiffs' appeal with a majority of eleven to four votes, as the chief judges of the Scandinavian country announced on Tuesday in an online verdict.
The judges backed the ruling of two lower courts that the Norwegian state had not violated a section of the Norwegian Basic Law known as an environmental paragraph by allowing new oil wells.
Judge Borgar Høgetveit Berg said that the paragraph could not be interpreted as desired by environmentalists.
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The judges were also unable to detect violations of the European Convention on Human Rights or procedural errors in the approval process by the state.
Four judges objected to the point of procedural error.
"This is an important and comprehensive judgment, and we are very satisfied with the result," said Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister Tina Bru.
The environmentalists, however, reacted disappointed.
"We are outraged by this judgment, which leaves young people and future generations without constitutional protection," said the head of the environmental protection organization Natur & Jugend, Therese Hugstmyr Woie.
The head of Greenpeace Norway, Frode Pleym, spoke of a disappointment.
"It is absurd that our right to an environment worth living in cannot be used to stop Norway's most harmful activities for our climate and our environment."
The plaintiffs were now looking at their further options, including an application to the European Court of Human Rights.
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In 2016, Norway permitted new oil wells in the Arctic Barents Sea for the first time in 20 years - according to Greenpeace, almost at the same time as the Norwegian ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement.
In the same year, the environmentalists filed a lawsuit: Greenpeace, Nature & Youth and two support groups accused the state of having violated Paragraph 112 of the Norwegian Constitution, known as environmental paragraphs, according to which the people had the right to a healthy one Environment.
They hoped that the process would not only result in a ban on oil drilling in the Arctic, but also set a precedent for climate action around the world.
The Norwegian government, on the other hand, took the view that the decision had gone through the political processes thoroughly and was constitutional.
Both the District Court in Oslo and the Borgarting Court of Appeal had agreed with the state.
As a result, the environmentalists appealed to the Supreme Court.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201222-99-785836 / 2
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Livestream of the verdict
Judgment (in Norwegian)
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