The company planning to build a new coal mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria has fought its case in court, saying it can and will build a “unique” net zero mine.
The High Court hearing in London is the first test of a major ruling in June that raised doubts that any new fossil fuel project could be approved in the UK.
The head of the mining company sat side-by-side in court with the climate campaigners that want to stop him opening the UK’s first deep coal mine in 30 years.
The judge will give a decision in the coming weeks.
Approval for the mine – which aims to produce coking coal for use in steel manufacturing – was granted in 2022 by the last government.
Climate groups Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) are challenging the decision, saying that it did not consider the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning the coal – only from running the mine.
Labour opposed the Whitehaven project in opposition and instead of defending it in court, the new government walked away from the case last week, citing an “error in law”.
Chief executive of West Cumbria Mining Mark Kirkbride was in court and declined to comment when asked by BBC News if the mine has a future now that the government has withdrawn its defence.
It is up to the court to decide on the lawfulness – and lawyers for both sides presented their cases in a three-day hearing this week.
Lawyers for the climate groups said that the company’s plans to offset the greenhouse gas emissions were unrealistic.
They also said the mine could not correctly claim that by digging coal in the UK, it would substitute coal mined in other parts of the world, meaning there
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