Clean Air, Clear Future · Weald Action Group

Climate
Litigation

The law is one of the most powerful tools available to hold industry and government to account. Weald Action Group has been at the forefront of environmental legal challenge in the UK — and the global momentum for climate litigation is growing.

2,500+
Climate litigation cases filed globally since 2015
Grantham Research Institute · 2023
54%
Of cases decided in favour of climate action
UNEP Global Climate Litigation Report · 2023
2024
Finch on behalf of WAG — landmark Supreme Court ruling, UK
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
65+
Countries where climate cases have now been filed
Grantham Research Institute · 2023
Landmark Supreme Court ruling

Finch on behalf of
Weald Action Group
v Surrey County
Council

In June 2024, the UK Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling in Finch on behalf of Weald Action Group v Surrey County Council — one of the most significant environmental law decisions in a generation.

The case concerned whether an environmental impact assessment for an oil well expansion in Surrey was required to assess the downstream greenhouse gas emissions — the CO₂ and methane released when the oil is ultimately burned. The Supreme Court ruled that it was. This was a decisive victory for environmental accountability and a direct challenge to the assumption that planning authorities could ignore the full climate impact of fossil fuel extraction.

The ruling has profound implications for how oil and gas projects are assessed and approved across the UK, and has been cited in legal proceedings in other jurisdictions.

Case timeline
2019
Surrey County Council grants planning permission for oil well expansion at Horse Hill, Surrey. WAG challenges the decision.
2021
High Court — initial challenge. The question of downstream emissions assessment is raised.
2022–23
Court of Appeal — WAG pursues the case. The legal argument on scope of environmental assessment is refined.
June 2024
Supreme Court rules in WAG's favour. Downstream emissions must be assessed. A landmark victory for environmental law.
"You can only care about what you know about."
Chief Justice Lord Leggett
Finch on behalf of Weald Action Group v Surrey County Council
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom · June 2024
Why it matters
Establishes that downstream emissions must be assessed in environmental impact assessments for fossil fuel projects
Sets a binding legal precedent for how future oil and gas planning applications must be assessed across the UK
Has been cited internationally and contributes to growing global jurisprudence on climate accountability
Demonstrates that community-led legal challenge can succeed at the highest level of the UK courts
Directly challenges the regulatory blind spot that allowed methane and CO₂ from combustion to go unassessed
Weald Action Group · Legal Record

Our cases

Finch is our most prominent legal victory, but it is not the only front on which WAG is fighting. We are currently engaged in active legal proceedings and have a track record of deploying the law as a tool for environmental accountability.

Won · June 2024
Finch on behalf of WAG v Surrey County Council

The landmark Supreme Court ruling establishing that downstream greenhouse gas emissions must be assessed in environmental impact assessments for oil and gas projects. A binding precedent for UK environmental law.

Supreme Court · United Kingdom · 2024
Injunction secured
Injunction — Horse Hill Operations

WAG successfully secured an injunction against operations at the Horse Hill oil site in Surrey, preventing drilling activity from proceeding while legal proceedings were ongoing. A significant procedural victory demonstrating WAG's capacity for rapid legal response.

High Court · England & Wales
Active proceedings
Legal Challenge v DESNZ

WAG is currently engaged in legal proceedings against the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). The case challenges regulatory decisions affecting onshore oil and gas oversight and the adequacy of government action on methane emissions.

Department for Energy Security & Net Zero · Ongoing
Active proceedings
Legal Challenge v Environment Agency

WAG is pursuing legal action against the Environment Agency over its approach to regulating methane emissions from onshore oil and gas sites — specifically the agency's reliance on industry self-reporting and its failure to enforce compliance effectively.

Environment Agency · England · Ongoing
Legal strategy
Ongoing Regulatory Accountability

Beyond formal litigation, WAG deploys legal tools including judicial review threats, pre-action letters, FOI enforcement and regulatory complaints to hold both industry and government to account. Our legal strategy is integrated with our evidence-gathering and citizen science programmes — ensuring that data gathered by our community investigators can be deployed effectively in formal proceedings.

Weald Action Group · England · Ongoing
The Global Picture

Climate litigation is changing the world

Climate litigation has grown from a niche legal strategy to a global movement. Since 2015, more than 2,500 climate-related cases have been filed in over 65 countries — against governments, fossil fuel companies, financial institutions and regulators.

The courts are increasingly willing to hold states and corporations accountable for their contributions to climate change and their failures to act. Over half of all climate cases decided to date have found in favour of climate action.

This shift in legal culture — from climate change as a political issue to one of fundamental legal rights and duties — is one of the most significant developments in environmental governance of the 21st century. WAG's work sits within and contributes to this global movement.

Key legal principles now established in courts worldwide include the duty of governments to protect citizens from foreseeable climate harm, the liability of fossil fuel companies for knowingly contributing to climate change, and the right of communities to have the full climate impact of industrial projects assessed before approval — the principle at the heart of the Finch ruling.

Further reading

Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics publishes the definitive annual review of global climate litigation. lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute

Notable victories worldwide
Netherlands · 2019
Urgenda v State of the Netherlands

The Dutch Supreme Court ordered the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by end of 2020. The first case in the world in which citizens successfully sued their government over climate policy.

Germany · 2021
Neubauer et al v Germany

The German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that climate targets were insufficient and violated the constitutional rights of younger generations. The government was ordered to set more ambitious emissions reduction targets.

Australia · 2022
Sharma v Minister for Environment

A Federal Court found the Environment Minister owed a duty of care to young Australians to not take actions that would cause them personal injury from climate change — a world-first ruling on duty of care.

Switzerland · 2024
KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of a group of Swiss older women — KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz — finding that Switzerland had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to take sufficient action on climate change. The first climate case won at the European Court of Human Rights, establishing that climate inaction can constitute a breach of human rights law.

International · 2024
ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Obligations

The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion confirming that states have obligations under international law to protect the climate system — with profound implications for future litigation worldwide.

"We are in the fight of our lives. And we are losing. Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator."

"An advisory opinion from the ICJ is the most authoritative and constructive route available for an independent clarification of the legal implications of climate change under international law."

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General · COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt · 7 November 2022
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