Foodrise is taking the government to the Supreme Court

Environmental sector is uniting to express concern over upcoming Supreme Court judgement which could put environmental justice at risk

In 2023, Foodrise mounted a legal challenge to the government over the environmental impact of the UK-Australia trade deal, which gives Australian meat and dairy producers tariff-free access to the UK market, unfairly undercutting UK farmers who operate to higher environmental and welfare standards.

The High Court granted the case Aarhus costs protection, which sets a £10,000 cap on the costs to pay if we go to court and lose.

But the government successfully appealed the judge’s decision to grant the cost cap on the grounds the legislation being challenged was about tariffs rather than environmental issues – despite Foodrise bringing the case because of climate concerns.

The loss of the cost cap is extremely worrying for the wider environmental sector for two main reasons:

1. Without the financial safety net of the cost cap under the Aarhus convention, there is considerably more risk involved for civil society organisations and individuals to mount legal challenges to protect climate and nature. This could mean that whole categories of cases are effectively exempt from challenge because potential litigants, understandably, feel unable to take the risk of losing with an open-ended financial commitment.
2. The Court of Appeal’s decision to lift the cost cap on this particular case has now narrowed the scope of what classifies as an ‘environmental’ case under the Aarhus Convention going forward. From now on, only cases that challenge legislation that in some way regulates the environment will qualify for this type of environmental costs protection. Therefore, cases such as ours, which is based on a challenge to a law, act or failure to act that will have an impact on the environment will not qualify.

Essentially, legal routes to environmental justice are now at risk. 

For this reason, we are challenging the Court of Appeal’s decision at the Supreme Court on 11 June.  

We have taken this important step because accessing the legal system is a critical component of our work and the work of others on behalf of the needs and rights of wider society and nature.    

Ahead of the hearing, we’re issuing a public statement to highlight the significance of this issue and unite with organisations across environmental, climate and food sectors who share our concern. 

View the statement here 

If your community group or organisation is working for a better, greener UK, please join Foodrise and allies including by adding your name to the statement or contacting hello@foodrise.org.uk.

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Timeline of events

May 2023: Foodrise launches a formal legal challenge against the UK government over inadequate assessment of the environmental impacts of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement. The deal gives Australian producers significant (tariff-free) access to the UK market to sell beef, lamb and mutton and dairy. Foodrise’s key argument is that climate change impacts were not properly assessed before UK legislation implemented the agreement and that the government failed to have regard to the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change when signing the trade agreement. This has important implications for future trade deals. More detail here.

July 2023: Judicial review filed. Foodrise is represented by Leigh Day. More detail here.

June 2024: Permission to bring the judicial review challenge with an Aarhus costs cap granted by the High Court.

July 2024: The (previous Conservative ) government files an appeal to challenge the Aarhus costs cap on the case at the Court of Appeal (CoA), contesting that the claim relates to the environment.

May 2025: The new Labour Government pursues the appeal (it was previously expected the new government would drop the attempted block). The CoA rules in favour of the government and the costs cap is removed. More detail here.

July 2025: Foodrise applies to the Supreme Court to contest the Court of Appeal’s ruling on the cost cap. Foodrise argues that the government’s appeal could put the UK in breach of the Aarhus Convention. More detail here and here.

October 2025: Supreme Court grants Foodrise permission to appeal. More detail here.

April 2026: Supreme Court grants Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Law Foundation permission to file written submissions in support of Foodrise’s case.

11 June 2026: Supreme Court hearing date