Activists Drape UK Prime Minister's Mansion in Black Fabric to Protest New Oil Licenses

Greenpeace activists on Thursday scaled the roof of U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's mansion in northern England and draped the house in oil-black fabric to protest the Tory leader's decision to approve hundreds of new fossil fuel drilling licenses in the North Sea.

While four Greenpeace campaigners sat on the roof of Sunak's mansion with a "No New Oil" banner, other activists laid out a large banner on the front lawn that asked, "Rishi Sunak—Oil Profits or Our Future?" (The prime minister is currently in California with his family.)

"We desperately need our prime minister to be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist," said Philip Evans of Greenpeace U.K. "Just as wildfires and floods wreck homes and lives around the world, Sunak is committing to a massive expansion of oil and gas drilling. He seems quite happy to hold a blowtorch to the planet if he can score a few political points by sowing division around climate in this country. This is cynical beyond belief."

Sunak announced Monday—the last day of what scientists believe was the hottest month on record—that his government would approve hundreds of new North Sea drilling licenses, claiming that an expansion of fossil fuel operations there is critical to the U.K.'s "energy security."

Evans said Thursday that Sunak is peddling the "old myth about new oil and gas helping ordinary people struggling with energy bills when he knows full well it's not true."

In a blog post on Thursday, Greenpeace U.K. noted that "when oil is drilled from the North Sea, 80% is exported. The U.K. will have to buy it back at the international market price."

"This is because the oil in Rosebank and other parts of the North Sea doesn't belong to the British government, or the public," the group explained. "It belongs to the companies that get the license to drill. And they will sell it to the highest bidder (which is usually another country)."

Greenpeace recently estimated that fossil fuel drilling licenses that the U.K. government has approved in the North Sea over the past two years are likely to generate as much planet-warming CO2 pollution as the nation of Denmark emits annually.

"More North Sea drilling will only benefit oil giants who stand to make even more billions from it, partly thanks to a giant loophole in Sunak's own windfall tax," Evans said Thursday. "The experts are clear—we can't afford any new oil and gas, and the fossil fuel industry certainly doesn’t need another helping hand in destroying the climate. What we need is a clean, affordable energy system fit for the 21st century. It's time for Sunak to choose between Big Oil's profits or our future on a habitable planet."