June 14, 2024
The first, in essence, substantial climate appeal in Greece is pending with additional documentation submitted before the Council of State. In the application for annulment submitted in December 2023 to the judges of the Council of State, additional grounds were filed this week which focus on the serious climate impacts of LNG fossil gas. The petition and additional grounds seek the annulment of permits issued by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, allowing the construction and operation of the Independent LNG System (ASFA – FSRU) in Alexandroupolis, a floating system for the storage and regasification of liquefied natural gas, in the marine area of Alexandroupolis, within a protected area of the Natura 2000 network. This important case is brought before the judges by the environmental organizations WWF Greece, Greenpeace, Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, Hellenic Ornithological Society, and MEDASSET.
For the first time, the Greek Judiciary is called upon to decide whether a fossil fuel like liquefied natural gas can be promoted as an alternative way of producing energy in conditions of severe climate crisis, and indeed, without a prior assessment of its climate footprint. It should be noted that the climate crisis, which has been felt in the last year in particular, with record high temperatures for twelve consecutive months, has a particularly serious impact on the Thracian Sea, , which is characterized by a very sharp rise in average sea temperatures compared to the rest of the Mediterranean.
The environmental organizations advocate the need to cancel the project due to its severe impacts, focusing on the critical issue of the emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly methane, which is the most potent greenhouse gas[1]. In addition they ask the court to evaluate the increase in climate emissions from the project in accordance with the country’s commitments under national, EU, and international law. At a pan-European level, this case follows the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (case Verein Klimaseniorinnen Schweiz et al.), which held that the European Convention on Human Rights establishes an obligation to prevent the adverse effects of climate change on human life and health. In the opinion of the organizations, the approval of activities that increase the country’s emissions, without any assessment of their impacts and without any measures to offset them, does not align with this obligation. Finally, the environmental organizations are calling for a judicial review of the activity’s impacts on the unique and particularly vulnerable Mediterranean population of the Harbour Porpoise in the area, whose habitat is shrinking.
[1] According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), methane has a global warming potential 29.8 times greater than that of CO2 over a 100-year period. However, over a 20-year period, methane is 82.5 times more potent in terms of its warming potential compared to CO2. This underscores the significant impact methane emissions can have on accelerating climate change in the shorter term.
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