Climate change: Tory logic behind UK oil and gas boom is clearly insane – Dr Richard Dixon

The idea that producing more fossil fuels will help the transition to net-zero carbon emissions makes no sense

Despite the International Energy Agency saying in 2021 that no country should be granting new oil and gas licences, despite the UN Secretary-General saying that investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is “moral and economic madness” and despite December’s climate talks in Dubai agreeing that the world must phase out fossil fuels, the UK has given out 24 new licences to 17 companies.

This latest tranch comes after last year’s decision to grant another 27 licences, as well as the go-ahead for the massive Rosebank development. The UK Government also plans to issue new ones every year instead of the current cycle of approximately five years.

Fossil fuels continue to be the main contributor to climate change. Last year was the hottest year ever recorded globally and this year is likely to be even hotter. The burning of fossil fuels needs to stop completely before temperatures can stabilise.

Wildfires amid a 40C heatwave in Chile have killed more than 100 people and destroyed at least 1,300 homes (Picture: Claudio Santana/Getty Images)

The UK Government says that it wants to “max out” the North Sea, parroting the industry line that we should keep up our domestic supply. The UK energy minister even tried to claim that the new licences would help the UK get to net-zero emissions…

Climate compatibility

The truth is that almost all the oil and gas extracted from the North Sea is sold on the international market which means that, even if it is actually used in the UK, we pay the same price as for any other globally traded oil. UK ministers want you to think that keeping the North Sea oil industry going is about cheaper energy prices at home but this is simply not true.

The SNP gave up on the policy of getting out every last possible drop some years ago. They now say new licences should be subject to a test against our climate objectives. The problem is that the UK Government has already come up with its so-called “Climate Compatibility Checklist”. Surprise surprise, it turns out that any new licence you can think of is absolutely fine for the climate...

The Labour party has said it will not issue any new licences if it wins the next general election but crucially it would allow all those licenses already granted by then to continue. A case of closing the burning stable door after the horses have bolted.

Dangerous climate change

A few years ago, Friends of the Earth Scotland commissioned an important report looking at how much oil and gas we could afford to burn and still make a fair contribution to keeping the world below the critical temperature thresholds agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The answer was very little. In fact, in 2019 there was already enough oil and gas in existing fields to blow our carbon budget. If other oil and gas-producing countries take the same approach as the UK – and most of them are – the world would be driven well beyond the 2C danger temperature threshold of the Paris Agreement.

Sometimes governments do things which you disagree with. But sometimes they do things which are clearly nonsensical and yet claim that they are justified. Issuing new oil and gas licences in a world facing an escalating climate crisis is clearly insane.

Dr Richard Dixon is an environmental campaigner and consultant