In a significant legal battle, climate groups have branded the decision to open the UK’s first deep coal mine in over thirty years as unlawful, arguing that the approval overlooked the full extent of the harmful emissions it would generate. On Tuesday, lawyers representing Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change contested the planning permission granted to the Woodhouse Colliery project in Whitehaven, northwest England, at the High Court.
The UK government had greenlit the mine’s development in 2022, with West Cumbria Mining Ltd. planning to export coal primarily for steel production overseas. However, legal representatives claimed that the developer’s climate assessment failed to account for the emissions resulting from burning the coal, erroneously labeling the mine as net zero.
“No reputable standard-setting or governance body involved in the voluntary carbon market endorsed West Cumbria Mining’s approach,” stated the lawyers for Friends of the Earth in their hearing documents, calling the net zero claim “pure greenwashing.”
The case gained momentum last week when the UK’s new Labour government declared it would no longer defend the mine’s approval. This decision followed a Supreme Court ruling mandating that all emissions, whether produced on site or downstream, must be fully considered when approving new fossil fuel projects.
In response, West Cumbria Mining‘s legal team vehemently denied the accusations, asserting that the development proposals, evidence, and official appraisals were all lawful and accurately represented.
