Evidence from UCL Professors was used to quash new mining licence in Cumbria

“It is striking that such a simple exercise in my Evidence to the original Inquiry seemed so relevant, resulting in a dozen references to it in the High Court judgement document more than two years later.” – Professor Michael Grubb.

What was the case about

A licence for a new coal mine was issued to West Midlands Mining in December 2022 by the Secretary of State for levelling up and housing (Michael Gove). South Lakes Action Against Climate Change (SLACC) and Friends of the Earth (FoE) opposed the mine for several reasons, including the significant greenhouse gas emissions likely to be generated by mining approximately 2.8 million tonnes of coal per year.

Why did they need evidence from Grubb and Ekins

When the decision for the grant was questioned, the Secretary of State called for an inquiry, which looked at evidence from experts to go through each of the points that were brought up – Professors Michael Grubb and Paul Ekins OBE were called to give evidence as experts on environmental resources, economics and policy.

What did their evidence say

Professor Grubb’s evidence showed that the mine wasn’t going to be a ‘perfect substitution’ for the imported coal it was replacing. Even if the substitution was 99%, the remaining 1% would create more greenhouse gases than before because coal mines producing the 1% were not ‘net-zero’ or ‘net zero compliant’.

How did it affect the decision

The reasoning the Secretary of State used to grant the licence, that the mine would be ‘carbon neutral’, was inaccurate and therefore untrue. This meant it couldn’t be used to justify a new coal mine.

As Mr Paul Brown KC, on behalf of Friends of the Earth, summarised “Critically, even if some degree of substitution is possible, that is not enough to make this coal mine carbon-neutral. In order to conclude that granting permission for the WCM mine would not result in an increase in downstream emissions, the Secretary of State would need to be satisfied that virtually all of the American or Australian coal which is displaced would remain in the ground i.e. that there will be perfect substitution.”

This and other conclusions from the Judge ended with the ruling that the issuing of the licence was not legal.

Background

Opposition to the coal mine

The case

High Court Judgement: South Lakes Action Against Climate Change v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities & West Cumbria Mining Ltd (2024)

Summary of the case

Image credit

Paul Arky via Unsplash