Environmental Foundation Limited vs. Anura Wijepala, Chairman Ceylon Electricity Board and 15 Others SCFR 179/2016 (Sri Lanka)

The petitioners challenged the government’s Environmental Impact Assessment-based approval for the Sampur coal power plant at Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Environment Foundation Limited argued that the government had failed to consider the potential environmental impacts of a coal power plant on the surrounding marine environment. It also argued that coal power generation contributed to climate change and that the government must reduce emissions and create emission standards given its commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The plaintiff withdrew its case in 2017 after the Sri Lankan solicitor general said that the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy would not proceed with the Sampur coal power project. The court issued a decision to that effect.