(Bloomberg) --

Norway’s top court dismissed an attempt by climate activists to halt Arctic oil exploration by Western Europe’s biggest petroleum-producing nation.

The Nordic government beat back a lawsuit by environmental groups in the country’s Supreme Court, which ruled on Tuesday the authorities had acted lawfully by awarding exploration licenses in the Barents Sea to companies including Equinor ASA, Aker BP ASA and Lundin Petroleum AB.

Greenpeace and Nature and Youth, a local environmental organization, argued in the lawsuit that the 2016 license award in the Arctic Barents Sea breaches Norway’s constitution and its commitments under the Paris Agreement.

The case highlights a growing global trend of governments and companies being challenged in courts over policies to tackle climate change. In a landmark case, the highest court in the Netherlands recently ordered the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Norway’s case centers around 10 licenses awarded in the Arctic Barents Sea, including three in a new area bordering Russian waters. Drilling there has so far been a disappointment for state-controlled Equinor and its partners, with no commercial discoveries.

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