Why we must stop new fossil fuel plans

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

Instead of fighting every new application as they come, we need to change the law and ban all new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea

No new oil and gas

Saying no to Cambo is just the beginning. Instead of fighting every new application as they come, we need to change the law and ban all new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. Around the world, other countries are already doing just that. Belize, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Spain, New Zealand and Portugal have all banned new offshore oil and gas production. Scotland and the UK must follow suit.

As well as saying no to new oil and gas drilling, we need a plan to wind down production of North Sea oil and gas over the next decade. This must go hand in hand with increasing renewable energy and ensuring a just transition for workers and communities by supporting retraining and providing new jobs. A court case brought by Friends of the Earth Netherlands and over 17,000 Dutch citizens saw oil giant Shell ordered to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 (more info on p14). People are taking polluters to court here in the UK too. The Paid to Pollute campaign is taking the UK Government to court over their unfair handouts for oil and gas, and we are endorsing the legal challenge. Since signing the Paris Agreement in 2016, the UK Government has paid £3.2bn of public money to North Sea oil and gas companies, while the companies paid next to nothing in tax. It’s time to end the handouts for fossil fuel companies and invest in the energy transition. In the coming months we will be scaling up action to stop climate pollution at source and shining a spotlight on the fundamental incompatibility of climate action and extracting more fossil fuels. We’ll need your help to put pressure on polluters and the politicians who allow them to keep on drilling and destroying our climate.

Stop Cambo Rally in Edinburgh. Photo: Jessica Kleczka