ClientEarth (No 2): A Case of Three Legal Dimensions

17 July 2017

This analysis has two main aims. The first is to explore in some detail the recent decision of the Administrative Court in ClientEarth (No 2). Here the central focus will be on drawing out three legal dimensions which it is argued played a significant role in the court’s judgment: an environmental modelling, an EU law and a domestic judicial review dimension. The second aim is then to offer some reflections on the environmental and judicial review dimensions of the case. Here, two main arguments will be developed. Firstly, that while ClientEarth (No 2) does not mark a sea-change in the judicial approach to the scrutiny of environmental modelling processes, it does show that the courts are willing to engage in a higher degree of scrutiny when the legislative background requires it. Secondly, that there are important insights to be gained, both from an administrative and an environmental law perspective, from reflecting on the role that domestic grounds of judicial review played in the court’s legal reasoning this case.