WHAT ON EARTH SUMMER 2021
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Leave fossil fuels in the ground By Caroline Rance, Climate & Energy Campaigner When world leaders gather in Glasgow for the UN climate conference this November, it will mark six years since they adopted the historic Paris Agreement with its goal to limit global warming to 1.5ºC. Since then, both the UK and Scottish governments have set new climate targets and have ramped up the rhetoric about taking climate action, but emissions from burning oil and gas have only fallen by 3% since 1990, and both governments want to keep drilling for every last drop of oil and gas from the North Sea. We’re working to change that.
Fossil fuels are the key driver of the climate crisis, and in May this year the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that if we’re to meet that Paris Agreement goal there should be no new coal, oil or gas developments anywhere in the world.
Just weeks after the IEA warning, oil giant Shell and Siccar Point Energy submitted an application to open the huge new Cambo oil field off the west coast of Shetland. The companies want to begin by extracting 170 million barrels of oil, equivalent to running 18 coal power stations for a year, and plan to keep drilling until 2050. We can’t let this go ahead. We’ve been working with organisations across the UK to put pressure on the government to stop Cambo. Thanks to each of you who added your name to the open letter to the Prime Minister, it really does make a difference.
Stop Cambo Rally in Edinburgh. Photo: Jessica Kleczka
