A court in Germany dismissed a claim by environmentalists for Nord Stream 2. Activists said about the danger of methane emissions during gas transportation

Environmentalists based their complaint on an American study that spoke about the dangers of methane emissions during gas transportation.

During the oral hearing, the court ruled that the complaint was “partially unsubstantiated” and that the gas pipeline had already passed an examination for technical compliance with security measures in the field of gas tightness.

The German non-governmental environmental organization DUH has repeatedly tried to get the shutdown of Nord Stream 2 through the courts. The lawsuit, which was considered in the Greifswald court, concerned the issuance of a construction permit for a pipeline section, which was still unfinished at that time, in the exclusive economic zone of Germany. Environmentalists reminded that they have opposed the construction of the gas pipeline since 2018 and consider the lawsuit “the only way to limit the damage to the Baltic Sea.”

The contested permission to lay the pipeline, which was issued by the German Federal Office for Shipping and Hydrography earlier this year. Environmental organizations immediately protested this decision, but on April 1, the environmentalists’ demand was rejected by the regulator. The building permit was suspended while the complaint was pending. Environmentalists tried to cancel the issuance of this permit in court.

Earlier today, November 16, became knownthat Germany has temporarily suspended the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The authorities’ claims are based on the fact that Nord Stream 2 AG decided not to transform the existing company, but to create a subsidiary only for the German part of the line. This subsidiary is to become the owner and operator of the German section of the gas pipeline. Against the background of the announcement of the suspension of the certification procedure for Nord Stream 2, shares of Gazprom fell.

The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was fully completed on 10 September. It consists of two lines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany.