Legal and planning

Together with Greenpeace UK, we intervened to help bring about an important legal victory which resulted in lengthy sentences reduced for Just Stop Oil activists. A key legal test over the right to protest has culminated in a critical win for 6 out of 16 climate activists in an appeal at the Court of Appeal. But more needs to be done going forwards: we don't believe that peaceful protest for sounding the alarm about the climate crisis should result in jail time.

We’re considering an appeal after the national adaptation plan was ruled lawful. Read the legal briefing by our lawyers Will Rundle and Niall Toru.

In a blow to the fossil fuel industry, Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change have won their court cases against plans to build a coal mine in Cumbria. Read our legal briefing and find out why the plans were unlawful, as well as destructive and unnecessary.

The new Labour government is rightly planning to build millions more homes. But it’s not as simple as tearing up planning rules. Sustainability Analyst Paul De Zylva and Senior Planner Magnus Gallie explore how house building can be done in a way that doesn’t cost the Earth.

Activists have won a stunning victory at the Supreme Court against oil drilling in Surrey. Find out how this is another step towards a fossil free future.

The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of grassroots and climate campaigners in a heavy blow for the fossil fuel industry. Read about the Horse Hill case and what it means for the future of fossil fuel projects in the UK.

A clampdown on protest rights has led to some chilling effects on democracy in the UK. Friends of the Earth has submitted a case to the European Court of Human Rights in the hopes of forcing the UK government to act. Read about the case.

For a second time we've defeated the UK government in court over its main climate strategy to reduce carbon emissions and help reach net zero. What's the government's climate plan and why do we need a better one?

For the second time in less than 2 years, the High Court has found the UK government’s inadequate climate strategy to be unlawful.

The Climate Budget Delivery Plan was the government’s latest attempt at a climate plan. Senior Lawyer Niall Toru explains why it wasn’t up to scratch and why it’s making headlines...