What are Rosebank and Jackdaw, and what did the Finch ruling change?

Rosebank and Jackdaw are two North Sea developments that were approved, challenged in court and sent back for fresh approval, and the court case that changed the rules was about a small oil site in Surrey. Rosebank, west of Shetland, is the biggest undeveloped oil field in UK territorial waters, with a projected 500 million barrels of oil equivalent over its lifetime; it is mainly oil. Jackdaw is a gas field about 150 miles east of Aberdeen. Finch changed the rules by requiring that the emissions from burning the oil or gas be assessed before approval.

Both were first approved by the previous Conservative government. In December 2023 Uplift and Greenpeace UK challenged the approvals in Scotland's Court of Session, arguing that the assessments ignored downstream, or scope 3, emissions: the greenhouse gases made when the extracted oil and gas is burned.

They had a precedent. In Finch, decided on 20 June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that planning permission for an oil site in Surrey was unlawful because it failed to assess the downstream emissions from burning the oil. The claimant was a local resident, Sarah Finch. In August 2024 the UK government conceded that the original decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw were unlawful, and in January 2025 the Court of Session ordered that both fields must seek fresh approval that includes downstream emissions.

On 21 October 2026 the UK government approved Jackdaw, as Labour sought to balance climate goals with energy security. The developer, Adura, says the projects are of national significance and can strengthen energy security and sustain jobs. Opponents such as Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer called the decision "climate vandalism". Rosebank has been through the same new process, but STV News reported less certainty in the industry about the government's appetite for an oil field.