Surrey climate campaigner receives international recognition.
Climate campaigner Sarah Finch, who won a landmark and far-reaching legal victory in the UK Supreme Court earlier this year, has been named by TIME as one of the 100 most innovative leaders driving climate change [1].
Sarah Finch won a landmark legal victory in June 2024 in a case she brought on behalf of the Weald Action Group against Surrey County Council. The case concerned permission which had been granted in 2019 for twenty years oil production in the Surrey countryside. Sarah maintained that the permission was unlawful as the planning authority had failed to consider the climate impacts of when the oil is inevitably burned. After a five-year legal battle, the Supreme Court found in her favour. The ground-breaking judgment is now having implications for new fossil fuel projects across the UK, including the proposed new coalmine in Cumbria, which had its planning permission quashed. [2]
Earlier today (12 November, the day the TIME100 Climate list is announced), Sarah took part in a rally outside the Court of Session in Edinburgh, where legal cases against the Rosebank and Jackdaw North Sea oil and gas fields are being heard. The approvals of these two fields could be found unlawful based on the ruling in Sarah’s case [3].
Sarah Finch said: “I am honoured to be included in TIME’s annual list of climate leaders. By recognising me, TIME has acknowledged the vital role of grassroots climate campaigners in fighting for a safe future. We can’t rely on governments and the UN Climate Summit process to get us there, it’s down to everyday people to take a stand against polluting projects and fight for climate justice.”
Vicki Elcoate of the Weald Action Group said: “We are grateful to Sarah for stepping forward and representing this case – and we are incredibly proud of our successful campaign on Horse Hill which has changed the tide on proposed UK fossil fuel developments. Around the world, thousands of dedicated campaigners like Sarah are making a real impact and all their efforts are essential.”
Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift commented:
“Thanks to Sarah’s tenacious legal campaigning, oil and gas companies can no longer get away with hiding the enormous harm they are doing to our climate from opening new projects. This is vital when ordinary people around the world are already shouldering the enormous burden of extreme weather, and adding more oil and gas drilling will only escalate these costs.
“Her efforts mean politicians and regulators can now, for the first time, make an honest, clear-eyed assessment of the climate pollution from new oil and gas fields. If they still approve them, they will do so knowing the harm they will cause to people’s lives, livelihoods and our natural world. Sarah’s impact – and that of all those at Weald Action Group – should not be understated.”
[1] See the full TIME100 list: https://time.com/time100-climate
[2] Read about Sarah Finch’s Supreme Court win: https://www.wealdactiongroup.org.uk/2024/06/horse-hill-supreme-court-judgment
For the Supreme Court’s judgment, see Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group) v Surrey County Council and others: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2022-0064.html
[3] Rosebank and Jackdaw were approved in 2023 and 2022 respectively. Greenpeace launched legal challenges against both projects, collaborating with campaign group Uplift on the Rosebank challenge. Both cases were sisted (paused) pending the decision of the UK Supreme Court on Sarah Finch’s case. The Supreme Court’s June 2024 ruling that the combustion emissions of the oil to be produced must be assessed as part of the approval process means that Rosebank and Jackdaw are presumably unlawful. The new UK government has conceded this and will not defend the approvals on this ground.