WWF - For a living planet

The legal case

In August 2007, WWF and The Corner House, an environmental and social justice organisation, applied for a Judicial Review of ECGD's decision to provide conditional support for Sakhalin II. This followed the discovery, through a Freedom of Information (FoI) request that ECGD had committed to underwriting $1bn of contracts for the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC) - despite three years of assurances to the British public that this decision was still being considered.

The commitment by ECGD was subject to a number of conditions (including social and environmental conditions). However, no provision was made in the letter for support to be withdrawn on environmental grounds. WWF and The Corner House believed that this offer of support was unlawful for a number of reasons.

The arguments put forward by WWF-UK and The Corner House

The grounds of the case submitted to the Court by WWF and The Corner House are that:

1. ECGD acted unlawfully by granting conditional support for Sakhalin II before an adequate environmental impact assessment was completed.
2. ECGD also failed to consult with WWF, The Corner House, or other interested parties on the decision to offer conditional support and the terms of that support, preventing them from making representations on an important stage in the process; and
3. The Export and Investment Guarantees Act (from which ECGD derives authority) requires ECGD to facilitate exports. WWF believe that ECGD has contravened this requirement. Either no decision has been made in which case ECGD cannot now be said to be facilitating exports when 90% of the work on the project is complete, or the Secretary of State acted unlawfully by making a binding statutory decision at a time when he could not have had all the necessary information to hand.

On 14 February, 2008, the Hon Justice Ousley issued an Order stating that there should be a preliminary hearing in the High Court to determine whether the case should proceed to a full hearing. This was due to take place on 22 April 2008.

On 3 March, 2008, however, WWF-UK learnt that SEIC had withdrawn its application for funding from ECGD. Without the live application the case became academic. WWF and The Corner House therefore decided not to continue with the court case. However, the Sakhalin case highlighted many of ECGD's inadequate procedures which remain unresolved. We are therefore continuing our political campaign for reform of ECGD. Find out more about our political campaign.