SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
equinor
'Big Win': UK Won't Defend Fossil Fuel Projects in North Sea
Oceana U.K.'s leader called the decision "a massive win for campaigners and another step towards... a cleaner, greener future for our seas, planet, and climate."
Aug 29, 2024
Climate campaigners celebrated Thursday after the United Kingdom's new Labour government announced it will not legally defend decisions to allow controversial offshore drilling in a pair of areas in the North Sea.
The two sites are Shell's Jackdaw gas field and the Rosebank oil field, owned by Equinor and Ithaca Energy. Both projects have been loudly criticized by international green groups as well as U.K. opponents.
"This is amazing news and a BIG WIN for the climate. The government must now properly support affected workers and prioritize investment in green jobs,"
declared Greenpeace U.K., which along with the group Uplift had demanded judicial reviews.
The approvals for both North Sea sites occurred under Conservative rule—in 2022 for Jackdaw and last year for Rosebank, the country's biggest untapped oil field. Voters handed control of the government back to the Labour Party in May.
Then, as The Guardiandetailed, "in June, the cases against the oil and gas fields received a boost when the Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that 'scope 3' emissions—that is, the burning of fossil fuels rather than just the building of the infrastructure to do so—should be taken into account when approving projects."
"Now we need to see a just transition plan for workers and communities across the U.K. and an end extraction in the North Sea for good!"
The U.K. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, led by Secretary Ed Miliband, cited the "landmark" Supreme Court ruling in a Thursday statement that highlighted the government's decision not to defend the approvals "will save the taxpayer money" and "this litigation does not mean the licences for Jackdaw and Rosebank have been withdrawn."
"Oil and gas production in the North Sea will be a key component of the U.K. energy landscape for decades to come as it transitions to our clean energy future in a way that protects jobs," the department claimed, while also pledging to "consult later this year on the implementation of its manifesto position not to issue new oil and gas licenses to explore new fields."
Welcoming the U.K. government's acceptance of the recent high court ruling, Uplift founder and executive director Tessa Khan
said on social media that "the immediate consequence... is that the Scottish Court of Session is very likely to quash the decision approving Rosebank, although we're likely to have to wait a while before that's confirmed."
"If Equinor and Ithaca Energy decide they still want to press ahead with developing the field," Khan explained, "then the next step will be for them to submit a new environmental statement to the [government] and regulator... that includes the scope 3 emissions from the field."
"If you need reminding, those emissions are massive: the same as 56 coal-fired power plants running for a year or the annual emissions of the world's 28 poorest countries," she added. "If Equinor and Ithaca try to push Rosebank through again, the U.K. [government] must reject it."
Greenpeace similarly stressed that "Rosebank and Jackdaw would generate a vast amount of emissions while doing nothing to lower energy bills," and "the only real winners from giving them the greenlight would be greedy oil giants Shell and Equinor."
"To lower bills, improve people's health, upgrade our economy," the group argued, the government must: increase renewable energy; better insulate homes; and boost support for green jobs.
Celebrations over the government's decision and calls for further action weren't limited to the groups behind the legal challenges.
Oceana U.K. executive director praised the "incredible work" by Greenpeace and Uplift, and called the government dropping its defense "a massive win for campaigners and another step towards... a cleaner, greener future for our seas, planet, and climate."
Oil Change International also applauded the government's "incredibly important and correct decision."
"There is no defending more fossil fuel extraction," the organization said. "Now we need to see a just transition plan for workers and communities across the U.K. and an end extraction in the North Sea for good!"
Global Witness similarly celebrated the government's move, declaring on social media that "this is brilliant news!"
"New oilfields are an act of climate vandalism," the group added. "Governments must prioritize people, not polluters' profit."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Their Profits, Our Loss
Fossil fuel companies must be made to pay for both the damage they cause and the pathway out of the climate crisis.
Feb 22, 2024
As international oil companies’ announcements of their annual profits roll in, executives may already be looking back fondly at 2023 while planning their next private-island holiday or real estate purchase. Yet for billions of us, one of the most lucrative years on record for oil and gas companies will be remembered as the hottest year on record, punctuated by extreme weather events and the ever-spiraling cost of living.
Growing up between two countries, Senegal and the Gambia, I did not need to be an activist or climate scientist to have first-hand knowledge of these crises. Detrimental impacts are felt in all sectors of these countries’ economies, with irregular rains causing farmers indescribable anguish as they lose their livestock and as grasslands turn into drylands. The climate crisis is a leading driver of desertification—a rapidly growing threat to water and food sovereignty—which pushes proud and self-sustaining communities into poverty. As a last resort, some are even pushed out of their homes and consider migration, risking their lives and adding to social and political tensions both at home and abroad.
The answer to climate change-fueled extreme weather events is two-fold: Avoid further emissions of planet-heating gases and invest in local solutions. The annual profits of just six major oil and gas companies—BP, Chevron, Equinor, Exxonmobil, Shell, and Total—which together scooped up almost $140 billion, are made from our collective loss. Not only does their business cause destructive climate change, but their profits do little to address these impacts. These companies must be made to pay for both the damage they cause and the pathway out of the climate crisis.
We must mark a turning point in expectations from the world’s largest polluting sectors, not least the fossil fuel industry, to pay towards the costs of climate action in developing countries.
Is it right for just a single company to earn off pollution in one year as much as it would cost for Senegal to address land degradation impacts for decades, not to mention a host of other climate disasters? Anyone who isn’t getting to line their pockets will say no. Despite the “economic wins” of these international oil companies, there is another more critical story to tell. Ordinary people everywhere are being penalized for the financial gains of oil and gas and their backers—from soaring energy bills to climate-related loss and damage. Their profits are our loss.
The oil and gas industry’s cumulative profits for 2023 far exceed the economic cost of weather and climate events for the same year, and payouts are similarly expected to crush record levels as just the six companies mentioned above have already distributed over $127 billion to their shareholders. This surpasses a global goal of $100 billion in climate finance to which rich governments have committed. Some of these costs—like the loss of loved ones, memories, cultural assets, connection to home, and ancestral ties that bind communities together—cannot be measured.
Polluters will never voluntarily stop drilling and start paying for the energy transition and the climate impacts they have caused. The fossil fuel industry knew of its climate impacts for decades, but has deliberately hidden or ignored the truth, discredited scientific evidence, and has broken countless laws in pursuit of its dirty business and enormous profits. Furthermore, the industry’s profits are overwhelmingly invested in new fossil fuel projects and in maximizing shareholder profits, instead of a shift to renewable energy sources.
Governments must step up to provide accountability and deliver justice. They need to help communities around the globe and deliver a rapid and just phaseout of all fossil fuels, as well as levy taxes on the fossil fuel industry for the costs associated with surviving the climate crisis. As a start, introducing a permanent excess profits tax on oil and gas producers and redirecting subsidies could generate substantial finance for climate action.
Both the oil and gas giants and the climate crisis that they’ve caused are global. Our solutions should be, too. Global events such as COP29 must also deliver an ambitious needs-based global finance goal supported by rich countries, going beyond the previous $100 billion goal. We must mark a turning point in expectations from the world’s largest polluting sectors, not least the fossil fuel industry, to pay towards the costs of climate action in developing countries.
In 2023, hundreds of thousands of people took action worldwide—from Nairobi to Norway, from the Philippines to New York—and called for a fast and fair fossil fuel phaseout. 2024 will be the year when the oil and gas industry starts losing and we all start winning, and the climate movement intends to be there to stand with those most impacted.
Keep ReadingShow Less
The Rosebank Go-Ahead Confirms the UK as a leading Planet Wrecker
There is no doubt that with this decision, the U.K. government is siding with oil and gas giants over a liveable future for all.
Sep 28, 2023
Timing, they say, is everything. Yesterday, the world’s energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA), published its latest report, the 2023 Net Zero Roadmap.
The IEA categorically stated that the time for no new oil and gas was over. If we are to keep temperatures to 1.5°C, then world leaders must not develop new oil, gas, or coal beyond existing fields.
If we want a liveable planet, we must shift from fossil fuels to renewables.
This is not the first time, either, that the IEA has confirmed that no new oil, gas, or coal fields are compatible with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5ºC.
It is also clear that Rosebank won’t do anything to lower energy bills in the U.K. or make the U.K.’s energy supply safer, despite how the government tries to spin it.
“Keeping alive the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C requires the world to come together quickly. The good news is we know what we need to do–and how to do it,” said IEA Executive Director, Fatih Birol at the launch of the report. The IEA reiterated the way to do it is not to approve new oil and gas fields.
The IEA are not the only ones saying this. Earlier this year, the U.N. Secretary General, António Guterres, called on governments to halt new oil and gas exploration licences.
But even stopping new licenses may not be enough. Oil Change International’s latest research shows that even beyond stopping oil and gas expansion, 60% of fossil fuels in existing fields must stay in the ground to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
Speaking in response to yesterday’s IEA’s report, my colleague, Kelly Trout, said: “This report reaffirms a stark truth: To limit global temperature rise as agreed upon internationally, there’s no room for new oil, gas, or coal fields. The time for a swift, equitable, and fully funded phase-out of fossil fuels is now, with rich countries moving first and fastest and paying their fair share to finance a global just transition.”
Barely is the ink dry on the IEA’s report, and yet Wednesday, the U.K. government gave the go-ahead to the huge Rosebank oil field, which is seen as the U.K.’s last untapped oil field.
Rosebank is some 80 miles off the West of the Shetland Isles, located off Scotland. The field could contain 500 million barrels of oil and could produce 69,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak and about 44 million cubic feet of gas per day in its first 10 years.
The field is going to be developed by the Norwegian company Equinor and British firm Ithaca Energy.
For months, opposition to the project has grown, including 200 organisations and celebrities, 40 MEPs and MPs from every major political party. Just last month, 50 MPs and others from all major British political parties raised concerns. They wrote to then Energy Secretary Grant Shapps urging him to block Rosebank. All their concerns were ignored.
There is no doubt that with this decision, the U.K. government is siding with oil and gas giants over a liveable future for all—whether that’s a habitable planet or not having to choose between heating and eating. The project will emit more carbon dioxide than the combined emissions of some 28 countries of the Global South.
It is also clear that Rosebank won’t do anything to lower energy bills in the U.K. or make the U.K.’s energy supply safer, despite how the government tries to spin it. In contrast, it will make millions for Equinor, and Ithaca, whose shares rose sharply this morning.
It is unsurprising that the decision was met with universal outrage from scientists, activists, and politicians. The Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called it “the greatest act of environmental vandalism in my lifetime.”
Philip Evans, a Greenpeace U.K. climate campaigner, told TheGuardian, “Rishi Sunak has proven once and for all that he puts the profits of oil companies above everyday people. We know that relying on fossil fuels is terrible for our energy security, the cost of living, and the climate.”
Simon Francis, the coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, added: “Households struggling with their energy bills will be shocked that the new Energy Secretary has chosen to hand a multi-billion pound tax break to this Norwegian firm, rather than help people in the U.K. suffering in fuel poverty.”
Dr Paul Balcombe, from Queen Mary University of London, said, “Signalling the expansion of North Sea oil and gas won’t make energy cheaper for us and will make it more difficult to transition to net zero.”
Others took to X, formally known as Twitter, to express outrage and shock, many pointing out the deep irony of the timing.
The U.K. government’s announcement comes after a number of anti-green announcements by the U.K. prime minister, including pushing back the deadline for selling new petrol and diesel cars, the phasing out of gas boilers, and the scrapping of the Energy Efficiency TaskForce.
Jess Ralston, from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said it is clear now that “the prime minister has shown that he’d instead give tax breaks to oil companies than lower energy bills. Taxpayers will fork out around £4bn to the developers of the oil field, money that could have insulated millions of homes, with many set to be colder and poorer this winter.”
Even for some Conservatives it has gone too far, with Sir Alok Sharma, who headed the COP26 talks in Scotland for the government, now saying he will no longer stand for reelection at the next General Election.
The Rosebank go-ahead confirms the U.K.’s stance as a leading Planet Wrecker. According to a recent OCI analysis, the U.K. is among five global north countries posed to be responsible for the majority of new oil and gas extraction to 2050.
It is no wonder that my colleague Silje Ask Lundberg, the North Sea Program Manager at OCI, said: “The science could not be more clear: There is no room for a single drop of oil from new fields… The fact that the U.K. government has approved the biggest undeveloped field in the U.K., and coming just one week after the government’s weakening of its net zero policies, is proof positive it is siding with oil and gas giants over a liveable future for all.”
Meanwhile, Rosebank will not happen without a huge fight from civil society groups:
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular