Legal challenge to decision to build new power station on Teesside to be heard in High Court

The legal challenge is being brought by Dr Andrew Boswell, whose forensic review of the developer Net Zero Teesside’s (NZT) calculations found the project would result in significantly more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than originally predicted. The miscalculation came after NZT subtracted the amount of carbon dioxide due to be captured by the power station twice, an error initially denied by the developer three times. 

The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, under the Conservative administration at the time, admitted Dr Boswell's calculations showed that the emissions would have ‘significant adverse effects’ on the UK’s trajectory towards net zero. Dr Boswell’s lawyers, Leigh Day, and barristers Catherine Dobson, Alex Shattock and Isabella Buono, will therefore argue that there was not a properly reasoned explanation for the decision to allow the construction of the power station to go ahead.  

Dr Boswell says the double counting error meant that the power station was incorrectly calculated to capture around a third more carbon emissions than it would actually emit - supposedly removing around 33 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere. The corrected calculations made by Dr Boswell and accepted by the Secretary of State then found that the power station would in fact release roughly 20 million tCO2e over its lifetime.   

The review by Dr Boswell also found that the developer initially failed to consider emissions associated with the supply and transportation of gas to and from the development, known as upstream emissions, when making its calculations. 

Dr Boswell will be attending the rolled-up hearing and is available for interview and comment. He is represented by solicitor Rowan Smith from Leigh Day’s environment team.