UK High Court rules Cumbria coal mine permit unlawful

The UK's High Court has quashed planning permission granted in 2022 for a coal mine in Cumbria, northwest England, ruling the approval was unlawful.

The court judgment found the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would result if the coal was burned — known as scope 3 emissions — were not properly considered during the planning process. The proposed mine's developer, West Cumbria Mining, said it would produce a "net zero coal product", using methane capture and abatement, renewable power, "tree planting… and offset of minor residual emissions".

But the judgment found the secretary of state at the time, Michael Gove, acted unlawfully in accepting that claim. The UK's Climate Change Act does not allow reliance on international offsets to meet the country's legally-binding carbon budgets.

The then-Conservative UK government granted permission for the mine — set to produce metallurgical coal, used in steel production — in December 2022 to West Cumbria Mining. Environmental groups Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change sought a judicial review, a challenge to the way in which a decision has been made by a public body, focusing on the procedures followed rather than the conclusion reached.

The UK's Labour government, elected in July, said it would not defend the planning decision in court.

The government will now have to reconsider the planning application, taking into account the "full climate impact", Friends of the Earth said.

"West Cumbria Mining will consider the implications of the High Court judgement and has no comment to make at this time", the company told Argus.

Today's ruling referenced a landmark June judgment from the UK's Supreme Court, which found that Surrey County Council's decision to permit an oil development was "unlawful because the end use atmospheric emissions from burning the extracted oil were not assessed as part of the environmental impact assessment". The outcome has prompted the UK government to develop new environmental guidance for oil and gas firms.

By Georgia Gratton