Tribunal orders government to release details on net zero meetings with companies

The order comes after a campaign by investigative journalist Lucas Amin of Democracy For Sale, who was originally denied his request for information by both the Wales Office (for the SoS) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Lucas, who is represented by law firm Leigh Day, first sought the information in December 2023, asking for briefing notes and minutes from meetings that took place between the SoS for Wales and a number of private companies throughout 2023.  

These companies included Toyota, Aston Martin, Shell, HyNet, and Tata Steel, with the meeting topics covering the Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandate, e-fuels, de-carbonisation, and carbon capture and storage.  

In February 2024, the government refused Lucas’s request for information, arguing that the information was subject to a duty of confidence and that disclosing it would damage trust between the government and the companies, and therefore not be in the public interest.  

Lucas then complained to the ICO in April 2024 about how the Wales Office had handled his request for information.  

However, the ICO held that the government did not need to release all of the information requested, and in November 2024 the Wales Office released heavily redacted documents with limited information visible.  

Following the ICO’s decision, Lucas contacted Leigh Day and took his case to the First-tier Tribunal, with a hearing taking place in November 2024. He argued that the information was not subject to a duty of confidence, and that in any event releasing it was in the public interest.   

Now, a Tribunal judge has ruled that the Wales Office must provide the requested information to Lucas.  

In the ruling, the judge found that releasing the information was in the public interest, and noted “strong” factors in favour of disclosing including: 

• “providing the public with greater understanding of business engagement at the Wales Office” 
• “increasing accountability and public confidence in the integrity of decision making in an area of crucial importance to the public” 
• “allowing the public to see whether or not claims made in public by private companies regarding the scale and extent of their net zero transition activities reflect what they are telling the government ("greenwashing") and therefore whether such companies' public and private positions are consistent” 
• “the overwhelming public interest in tackling the existential threat of climate change, the reason behind the ZEV (zero emissions vehicles) mandate and other net zero policies.” 

Lucas Amin said: 

“We are delighted to see the Tribunal has found a strong public interest in publishing records that reveal how Britain’s biggest companies lobby ministers in private. The judge has also noted the special importance of scrutinising claims of ‘greenwash,’ which was our intention in making these requests. This decision helps to close a ‘transparency gap’ between what firm say publicly about climate change and net zero, and what they actually do in secretive meetings with ministers. We’d like to give a special thank you to the team at Leigh Day - Rowan, Julia and Lily - who were brilliant throughout, and to our outstanding counsel at Landmark, Alex Goodman KC and Alex Shattock.” 

Leigh Day solicitor Julia Eriksen, who represents Lucas, said: 

“We are pleased with this outcome for our client, who has now seen his arguments for disclosing the requested information vindicated after a Tribunal ruling. Lucas argued that releasing the information would be in the public interest, contrary to what the Welsh Office and ICO had determined, with the Tribunal judge describing his arguments as “compelling”. This decision is a positive move in favour of increased accountability, and our client now looks forward to receiving the requested information.”