Litigating Future Fossil Fuels: How a South African Case Prevented Fossil Fuel Exploration

This CLX webinar examines a legal challenge to planned seismic surveys for oil and gas off South Africa’s Wild Coast. Natural Justice lawyers Melissa Groenink and Lucien Limacher discuss the December 2021 interim court order, the rights and environmental concerns raised by affected communities, and the role of public mobilization.

The challenge concerned Shell’s planned seismic surveys under an exploration right granted in 2014 and subsequently renewed. The speakers discuss the failure to meaningfully consult affected communities, potential harm to marine life and coastal livelihoods, and a dispute over whether separate environmental authorization was required. The webinar describes the case at an early stage; the environmental authorization question was not ultimately decided by the Constitutional Court.

The communities argued that decisions affecting their ocean, livelihoods, and cultural and spiritual practices required their meaningful participation. As the webinar explains, consultation with a traditional leader did not replace consultation with the affected community members themselves.

The High Court issued an interim order stopping the seismic surveys while the challenge to the exploration right proceeded. It was an early ruling that prevented the surveys from going ahead at that stage, rather than a final decision on the validity of the exploration right.

The speakers describe community organizing and the wider Stop Shell campaign alongside the litigation. Community accounts helped explain what the ocean meant for fishing, livelihoods, and cultural practices, while public advocacy brought wider attention to the proposed surveys.

The webinar highlights the value of acting at the exploration stage, when a project’s future is still being decided. It also shows how legal claims grounded in community rights and environmental concerns can be supported by testimony, expert evidence, and organizing beyond the courtroom.

It is useful for climate and environmental litigators, community advocates, researchers, and policymakers examining fossil fuel exploration and public participation. The discussion provides a concrete example of an early legal challenge, while the later court ruling helps readers trace how the case developed.