What's In Scope? OPRED's New Guidance On Scope 3 Emissions Issued

Supplementary guidance has been issued by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) for assessing the effects of downstream scope 3 emissions on climate from offshore oil and gas projects.

Background

The updated guidance follows a landmark judgment handed down by the UK Supreme Court on 20 June 2024, which found that a local authority's decision to grant planning permission to expand oil production from a well in Surrey was unlawful because the end-use atmospheric emissions from burning the extracted oil were not assessed as part of the environmental impact assessment ("EIA").

The Scottish courts also considered this issue in the context of offshore oil and gas projects, specifically the consent for the Rosebank oil and gas field and the consent for the Jackdaw gas field. In its judgment issued in January 2025, the Outer House of the Court of Session, following the UK Supreme Court judgment, held that downstream emissions caused by the combustion