https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/rishi-sunak-oil-gas-bill-science-north-sea/
The government says new oil and gas projects will leave the country less reliant on foreign energy. Image: Unsplash
MPs will vote on Rishi Sunak’s Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill. But the scientific opposition is already overwhelming
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New oil and gas fields are incompatible with the 1.5C threshold
“No new oil and gas development is possible if the world is to stay with the Paris Agreement temperature limits,” said the International Institute for Sustainable Development last year.
“Governments should stop awarding licences and permits to explore for or develop new oil and gas fields or coal mines, or other long-term infrastructure to produce, transport, or consume fossil fuels,” the report said, highlighting what needs to be done to stay within 1.5C threshold of warming.
Every country must stop licensing new oil and gas, says the head of the UN
“Every country must be part of the solution,” said UN secretary general António Guterres after the release of last year’s IPCC report. “In short, our world needs climate action on all fronts – everything, everywhere, all at once.”
As part of this action, Guterres made “ceasing all licensing or funding of new oil and gas” a fundamental part of the “Acceleration Agenda” – and encouraged all nations to sign up.
New investments in oil and gas show governments aren’t serious about the climate crisis
In 2021, the International Energy Agency said new oil and gas should stop that year. Three years on, Rishi Sunak’s government is planning to go full steam ahead.
“If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year,” IEA director Fatih Birol told the Guardian at the time.
Fresh fossil fuel investments ‘undermine’ UK leadership on climate change
Successive governments have claimed the UK is a leader in climate change. But in a March 2023 letter from 700 UK-based experts, Rishi Sunak was warned: ”If the UK allows any new development of oil and gas fields, it will severely undermine those claims of leadership by contributing to further oversupply of fossil fuels, and making it more difficult for the world to limit warming to 1.5°C”
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https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/rishi-sunak-oil-gas-bill-science-north-sea/