Climate Action of Last Resort: Fridays for Future Estonia and the Legal Battle Against Oil Extraction
- ugnebudriunaite
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
When thinking about activism and climate action, most of us would associate it with protesting, social media campaigns and political advocacy. We often look at climate change-related issues through political and social lenses, forgetting about one very important dimension: is all of this destruction of the environment even allowed by law? This is the question that activists from Fridays For Future (FFF) Estonia posed when they went to court to fight against building a new shale oil plant.
During the ReGeneration Week 2025, we had a chance to participate in the workshop about fossil fuel phase-out by their representatives, Helen Vislap and Robert Pappel, and discuss their climate lawsuit.
What has happened in Estonia?
In March 2020, Estonian state-owned energy company Enefit Power received state money to construct a new shale oil plant in Ida-Viru County, where there are already three such facilities. According to FFF Estonia, the emissions from the new plant would constitute 6% of all the national emissions and up to 20% of Estonia's carbon budget. At the same time, its construction would contribute to creating only 61 direct jobs, despite the ongoing narrative about boosting employment rates in the region.
Taking this into consideration, the activists from FFF Estonia decided to take action and, in April 2020, filed the lawsuit for annulment of the construction permit to the Tartu Administrative Court. In 2023, with the decision of the Supreme Court, the permit was annulled. As one of the organisation’s representatives, Robert, has mentioned, this is when the real media attention started. However, this was not the end of this battle, as in 2024, a new permit was issued. Since then, the new complaint made by the Estonian activists has been rejected, and the case is now being proceeded by the Tallinn Circuit Court.
What is (youth-led) climate litigation and why does it matter?
The concept of climate litigation refers to the lawsuits made by individuals, organisations, and other entities, presented to the judicial bodies, that aim to guard the fulfilment of the approved climate goals and environmental protection rules through the enforcement of existing climate laws or policies. This mainly focuses on climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and the science of climate change.
As the climate litigation cases rise in numbers, so does the youth involvement in this sector. One of the most relevant cases has been the active role of activists from World Youth for Climate Justice in the newest International Court of Justice ruling about the state's responsibility to act on climate change and protect the environment.
For FFF Estonia, climate litigation was the last resort, as they felt like they had tried everything before, from strikes to talking with politicians, but there was not much potential left in these types of actions. It was time to engage in this landmark case for the region. What’s worth highlighting is that they are the first youth-led organisation to engage in the climate lawsuit in their region. When asked about possible reasons why nobody did this before, Robert mentioned that there aren’t any other countries in Eastern Europe that possess oil shale, but also maybe they are the first ones brave enough to act.
Is there potential for more climate litigation in the Baltic Sea Region?
As already mentioned, there are not many cases of climate litigation in the Baltic Sea Region, especially when it comes to the Eastern European states. However, as Robert has explained in the workshop during the ReGeneration Week, there are plenty of options to act.
Firstly, the states have obligations to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, which are reflected in the national carbon budgets, which are in turn connected to the Paris Agreement 1,5˚C limit. Otherwise, as the 2024 Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz vs Switzerland has showcased, countries can be sued for not fulfilling their human rights obligations. In this case it was the right to effective protection by the State authorities from the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives, health, well-being and quality of life, as the court found the Swiss government failed to meet their GHG reduction targets.
Secondly, another crucial document that can be used as a base for making a case against anti-climate policies government is the UN Convention on the Rights of Children. Article 24 of this convention mentions the right to live in a healthy environment, which certainly is not fulfilled in the areas of continuous extraction of polluting and toxic resources.
Finally, the Paris Agreement and the EU climate law highlight that the states are obliged to make progress in decarbonization and cannot decrease their CO2 reduction targets. Therefore, this means that creating a new oil extraction site or increasing coal mine production would go against both of these principles.
Therefore, it is clear that there is a lot of potential to promote fossil fuel phase-out in the Central-Eastern European region. On the example of Estonia, we see that when the political and non-legal ways did not lead anywhere, making a lawsuit can bring a lot of media and public attention, and even stop the construction of such facilities for several months. Robert also reaffirmed this hope by saying that “we won’t be the last ones {in the region}.”
What will happen in the near future?
While writing this article at the end of August, right after the ReGeneration Week finished, I was hoping to also include the most recent decision of the Tallinn Circuit Court that was set to be announced on August 29, 2025. However, it was unfortunately postponed until October 29, 2025.
Would hearing the decision make the ending of this article different? Perhaps not, because as Robert said, if FFF were to win this case, their opponents would appeal it anyway, and the same would be the other way around. However, the conclusion for the organisation will always be the same. By going to court, they hope to encourage other young people to stand against big corporations, which have a lot of resources that are being used in a way that is harmful to both people and the environment. And this is always the correct thing to do.
In addition to the ongoing case against constructing new shale oil plants, FFF Estonia has launched a new lawsuit against increasing volume of shale oil mining in the Uus-Kiviõli region. It allows for 15 million tons of oil shale to be mined there per year, which accounts for an increase of 2,5 times.
Coming back from the ReGeneration Week 2025, I am inspired by so many young people who are trying to do this and help their own local communities. So if you would like to engage with the legal arguments to support environmental policy in your own locality, you don’t need to be a legal expert. Similarly, if you think that making a lawsuit is a very scary thing, you can start with different actions that can also be very helpful. You can find some examples below:
Start an environmental law association at your university or introduce the topic of environmental law into the work of the existing sustainability club
Advocate for launching more courses about environmental law in your university and/or high school
Do research about existing environmental laws in your country and map out which are potentially being broken by the insufficient climate action on the local or national level
Start a social media and/or advocacy campaign about environmental law and how it is being broken in your country or community
Organise capacity-building workshops where you teach the local communities about the climate laws and how we can fight to uphold them
… and many more! The key thing is to raise awareness of the plenty of possibilities to use environmental laws and work to make the system more reliable, simple, and reputable. In this way, it is hoped that despite the many challenges currently faced, what we will see in the near future is that the people, companies, and states that harm the planet will not be able to simply go away with it.
Author: Pola Zabuska, Board member of ReGeneration 2030
ReGeneration 2030 is a democratic and youth-led organisation, mobilising youth climate activists and movements from the Nordic and Baltic Sea region. Want to join us? Fill out a volunteer application form here.