New North Sea oil and gas licences will send ‘wrecking ball’ through climate commitments

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Rishi Sunak has announced the approval of about 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences, prompting condemnation from environmental groups, who said it would “send a wrecking ball” through the UK’s climate commitments. The plan was also criticised by the Conservative MP who led a review into net zero, Chris Skidmore, who said it was “on the wrong side of modern voters”. Making a visit to Aberdeenshire on Monday, Sunak argued that the move would help the UK reach its target of meeting net zero by 2050. Speaking to the BBC, Sunak stressed his desire to maintain UK fossil fuel exploration, a key political dividing line with Labour, which has said it will stop any new North Sea drilling if it comes into power. Ahead of the visit, No 10 unveiled proposals for a new round of licences, as well as plans for two new carbon capture and storage facilities, including the Acorn scheme in north-east Scotland, which missed out when two other sites were chosen for such facilities in 2021. While environmentalists and many scientists have warned that new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with net zero targets, Sunak told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that the licences were integral to the plan. “When we reach net zero in 2050, a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas, and domestic gas production has about a quarter or a third of the carbon footprint of imported gas,” Sunak said. “So not only is it better for our energy security, not to rely on foreign dictators for that energy, not only is it good for jobs, particularly Scottish jobs, it’s actually better for the environment because there’s no point in importing stuff from halfway around the world, with two to three times the carbon footprint of the stuff we’ve got at home.” Insisting he remained committed to the 2050 target, and to the deadline of stopping the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, Sunak added: “This is a good story for the UK overall. It’s not about political seats, it’s just about doing the right thing for the country.” Oxfam’s climate policy adviser, Lyndsay Walsh, said: “Extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea will send a wrecking ball through the UK’s climate commitments at a time when we should be investing in a just transition to a low-carbon economy and our own abundant renewables.” Mike Childs, the head of policy for Friends of the Earth, said: “Climate change is already battering the planet with unprecedented wildfires and heatwaves across the globe. Granting hundreds of new oil and gas licences will simply pour more fuel on the flames, while doing nothing for energy security as these fossil fuels will be sold on international markets and not reserved for UK use.” Skidmore, a former science minister and advocate of green policies within the Tory party, called the new licences “the wrong decision at precisely the wrong time, when the rest of the world is experiencing record heat waves”. He said: “It is on the wrong side of a future economy that will be founded on renewable and clean industries, and not fossil fuels. “It is on the wrong side of modern voters who will vote with their feet at the next general election for parties that protect, and not threaten, our environment. And it is on the wrong side of history, that will not look favourably on the decision taken today.” A parallel announcement on carbon capture and storage schemes results in the Acorn project in north-east Scotland and Viking in the Humber being picked for development by 2030. It follows the two earlier projects selected in 2021, one in Humber and Teesside and the other in Liverpool Bay, set to come into use by the mid-2020s. Asked how he was travelling to Scotland, a rather grumpy Sunak, who ended the interview when it reached the five-minute limit imposed by No 10, replied: “I’ll be flying as I normally would.” He then told the Scottish BBC presenter Martin Geissler: “If you or others think that the answer to climate change is getting people to ban everything that they’re doing, just to stop people going on holiday, I think that’s absolutely the wrong approach.” The announcement on new licences, which was handed to the Times overnight before being released generally on Monday morning, said about 100 were expected to be awarded, with the first licence confirmed in the autumn. The process, overseen by the North Sea Transition Authority, will involve a climate compatibility test, but will have more flexibility than before to drill for reserves close to currently licensed areas, to increase the amount potentially removed. Sunak and his ministers have accused Labour of making the UK more reliant on overseas resources if it goes ahead with a ban on new North Sea projects. Labour says it would invest heavily in renewable sources such as wind, and also in nuclear power, which would reduce bills and make supplies more secure and sustainable.