Argentina
On August 1, 2023, the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN) filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prevent national authorities, including the Secretariat of Climate Change, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, and the Secretariat of Energy, from granting consent for marine seismic exploration and/or the exploitation of marine fossil fuels until a proper environmental impact assessment and a strategic environmental assessment are carried out, as the environmental impact assessment already conducted was deemed deficient. According to the claim, these environmental assessments should include an evaluation of the cumulative climate impacts of the activities, a consideration of energy alternatives, and a cost-benefit analysis within the context of a just energy transition.
Furthermore, FARN requested the immediate cessation of all authorized offshore exploration activities until the aforementioned assessments have been completed. This precautionary measure is ancillary to a future civil claim that FARN intends to file to prevent environmental damage to the marine ecosystem and to challenge the technical feasibility of developing projects that contradict Argentina's climate commitments.
Among the shortcomings observed in the environmental assessments already carried out, the claim mentions an underestimation of the GHG emissions of the projects, including methane emissions (due to leaks in the exploration and production stage and emissions due to the combustion of extracted fossil fuels), a deficiency that prevented the authorities from adequately assessing the cumulative impacts of the emissions on the climate.
In its claim, FARN alleges different legal grounds, including Article 41 of the Argentine Constitution (right to a healthy environment), the duty to prevent environmental damage (Art. 2.g., Law 25.675), access to environmental information (Art. 16, Law 25.675), the duty to carry out environmental assessment (Art. 11 and 13, Law 25.675), the environmental principles (precaution, prevention, sustainability, intergenerational equity, non-regression), the Climate Change Law 27.520, the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Escazú Agreement and the American Convention on Human Rights (according to the interpretation of the Inter-American Court in its Advisory Opinion 23/17).
The lawsuit alleges that several transnational corporations are involved in these activities, along with YPF (the national energy corporation), Equinor, ExxonMobil, Qatar Petroleum Pluspetrol, Shell, Tullow, and Total Austral. It is worth noting that this is not the first case challenging fossil fuel exploration and extraction activities in the Argentine Sea.
On September 14, 2023, the Federal Court rejected the precautionary order, considering that the case presents a high degree of technical complexity that cannot be addressed in a provisional instance.
This decision was appealed by FARN on October 1, 2023, stating that the court failed to address the central aspect of the claim, which was to verify the cumulative impacts of the various offshore exploration and extraction projects based on the legal grounds alleged. FARN argues that the request did not require the determination of technically complex issues but rather compliance with environmental impact laws.
This appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal on November 22, 2023, for the same reason: technically complex issues cannot be addressed in an injunction. On December 5, 2023, FARN appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.
On February 19, 2024, FARN filed a complaint with the Supreme Court, emphasizing the direct and indirect environmental impacts of offshore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation . The focus is on the potential impact of this activity on the rich marine biodiversity, especially on vulnerable species such as the southern right whale.
This case was lost in various judicial instances and is currently being processed before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
The lawsuit requests an injunction to prevent national authorities from granting consent for marine seismic exploration and/or the exploitation of marine fossil fuels until appropriate environmental impact assessments and strategic environmental assessments are carried out, as well as the immediate cessation of any offshore exploration activity already authorized until the aforementioned assessments have been carried out.
In addition to the above, it is requested that the cumulative and climatic impacts of hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation activity in the Argentine Sea be evaluated and that a strategic environmental assessment be prepared and published that considers not only the cumulative impacts, but also energy alternatives, costs and benefits of the activity within the framework of a just energy transition.
The above is in the context of ensuring compliance with the climate commitments assumed by Argentina to prevent environmental damage to the marine ecosystem.
The central issue of the controversy lies in the precautionary order to prevent seismic exploration/exploitation of fossil fuels until adequate environmental impact assessments can be carried out.
- Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN)
- Secretariat of Climate Change.
- Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.
- Ministry of Energy.
The seismic exploration permits granted extend across virtually the entire Argentine continental Exclusive Economic Zone and largely overlap with production areas and areas designated for biodiversity conservation. This means that biodiversity could be affected by the impacts of seismic activity, as well as by the potential impact of future hydrocarbon extraction, particularly the risk of oil spills. Existing oil activity in the Austral Basin (marine sector), along with the blocks offered and awarded in that basin and in the West Malvinas Basin, encompasses an area very close to three marine protected areas (Namuncurá-Banco Burdwood I, Namuncurá-Banco Burdwood II, and Yaganes), and three provincial reserves (Atlantic Coast Protected Natural Area–Tierra del Fuego, Isla de los Estados, Isla de Año Nuevo and Adjacent Islets Provincial Reserve–Tierra del Fuego, and Cabo Vírgenes Provincial Reserve–Santa Cruz).
In these waters, the presence of the southern right whale dolphin (Lagenorhynchus australis) is very common. This binational endemic species (Argentina-Chile) is found exclusively in southern South America and serves as an apex predator.
Among other cetacean species observed in the area are the dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), the Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii), the killer whale (Orcinus orca), the sperm whale, the sei whale, and the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus). Another recorded concentration of sperm whales, associated with Patagonian toothfish and squid fisheries, is located southeast of Tierra del Fuego. It should also be noted that the potential risks of offshore gas and hydrocarbon exploitation, such as greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change, have not been analyzed by the authorities.
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that there is a narrow window of opportunity to build climate resilience and that the choices and actions taken this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years to come. This report recognizes the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies; the value of diverse forms of knowledge; and the close links between climate change adaptation and mitigation, ecosystem health, human well-being, and sustainable development.
- Caution.
- Prevention.
- Sustainability.
- Intergenerational.
- Progressiveness.
- No regression.
International Agreements
- Paris Agreement
- Convention on Biological Diversity
- Escazú Agreement
- American Convention on Human Rights
- Advisory Opinion 23/17
National Laws
- Article 41 of the Argentine Constitution
- Law 25.675
- Law 25.675
- Climate Change Law 27.520
- Resolution 434/2019