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Tag: Rosebank

  • Two GB News Directors Have Investments in Oil Companies Behind Rosebank and Jackdaw

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    Article by Adam Barnett republished from DeSmog.

    GB News directors Paul Marshall and Theodore Agnew superimposed in front of a North Sea oil rig. Credit: ARC Forum / Flickr (Marshall), House of Lords / Roger Harris (Agnew), Gary Bembridge (oil rig)

    Lord Agnew and Paul Marshall, who also owns The Spectator, are shareholders in Equinor and Shell.

    Two directors of GB News, which has loudly advocated for the new Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields, hold shares in the firms behind the projects.

    Sir Paul Marshall, a millionaire hedge fund boss who also owns The Spectator magazine, and Lord (Theodore) Agnew of Oulton, a Conservative peer and donor, sit on the board of All Perspectives Ltd, the holding company of GB News.

    Marshall is also one of its two principal funders, pumping money into the loss-making right-wing outlet.

    GB News – which employs Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Tory Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg – has strongly supported new North Sea drilling, with presenters recently calling Rosebank “a no-brainer” that should be approved “instantly”.

    The Labour government last week approved the development of the Jackdaw gas field near Aberdeen and is expected to make a decision on Rosebank soon.

    Rosebank would create an estimated 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over its 10-year lifetime, roughly 70 percent of the UK’s total annual emissions. The oil and gas field near the Shetland Islands is 80 percent owned by Adura, an “independent joint venture” by the fossil fuel giants Equinor and Shell that also owns the Jackdaw site.

    At the end of June, Marshall’s hedge fund Marshall Wace held $16.3 million (around £12.3 million) of stock in Shell, according to its latest filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Meanwhile, Lord Agnew is a shareholder in Equinor, owning a stake in the company worth at least £100,000 according to his parliamentary register.

    DeSmog first revealed Marshall Wace’s huge fossil fuel portfolio in 2023, which increased to $2.8 billion (£2.1 billion) in the first quarter of this year.

    One of Marshall Wace’s biggest backers, U.S. private equity giant KKR, is itself a major investor in fossil fuels.

    “GB News has gone way beyond just covering the Rosebank decision. Presenters repeatedly attacked the energy secretary for considering rejecting it, and demanded that the government ‘drill baby drill’,” said Richard Wilson, director of the campaign group Stop Funding Heat.

    “The public deserves to know when the people overseeing a TV station have a financial stake in the outcome it’s pushing for”.

    Wilson also pointed out that media regulator Ofcom requires “due impartiality” from broadcasters on live policy decisions, potentially including the approval of specific oil fields.

    “It’s time for Ofcom to take action,” he said. “In the meantime, it’s vital that advertisers continue to steer clear of GB News”.

    Paul Marshall and Marshall Wace declined to comment. GB News and Lord Agnew were approached for comment.

    GB News’s ‘Rosebank-tinted’ Coverage

    Presenters and guests on GB News have vocally backed the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects.

    On 26 October, Rees-Mogg, who lost his seat at the 2024 general election, was asked for his view on Rosebank, replying: “Oh, drill, baby drill. We should get on with it as fast as possible,” adding that the UK should also overturn its ban on fracking for shale gas.

    On 19 August, GB News presenter Andrew Pierce interviewed Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice about the two projects, saying: “If both of them were given the go-ahead, wouldn’t that instantly create some of the extra fuel security, energy security we need, apart from the revenue for the Exchequer?”

    Tice replied, “Of course. Both should be given the go-ahead instantly,” adding that the government should grant new North Sea exploration licences, which would break its 2024 manifesto commitment.

    On 22 October, Pierce himself called Jackdaw “brilliant” and said it was “madness” for Labour MPs to oppose Rosebank.

    GB News political editor Christopher Hope has also made the case for Rosebank, remarking on 26 October: “We’re buying in the oil and gas we would take from Rosebank. Anyway, why not make it in [the UK] and get tax revenue from that asset?”

    A few days earlier, on 16 October, he said: “It seems like a no-brainer to many, but not on the left of politics.”

    GB News presenter and former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    Credit: GB News / YouTube

    Last week, the GB News website ran an opinion article by Russell Borthwick, the chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, headlined: “Jackdaw approval is a victory for common sense. Now it’s Rosebank’s turn.”

    As DeSmog has documented, GB News has long backed new fossil fuels and attacked climate action. It has also given a platform to climate science deniers, including from the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a pressure group that says more CO2 emissions would be a “benefit to the planet”.

    Marshall has also personally criticised policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, claiming in a speech to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in February 2025 that the world has been infected by a “climate derangement syndrome”. He said “our economic prosperity and our people’s livelihoods” are being sacrificed “all for the sake of making some fractional changes to the level of CO2 in the atmosphere”.

    In reality, reaching net zero emissions is predicted to cost only a fraction of UK GDP, while the extreme weather events caused by climate change could have a dramatic impact on the global economy.

    Marshall’s Spectator magazine, edited by former Conservative Cabinet minister Michael Gove, has also strongly supported new North Sea drilling.

    A piece last week by anti-net zero columnist Ross Clark hailed Jackdaw as “a small victory for common sense” but lamented that Labour will not approve Rosebank so long as the UK keeps its net zero targets.

    The Spectator’s “gossip columnist” Steerpike also last week accused Labour MPs of “throwing a tantrum over Jackdaw”, and concluded: “It has taken years, and so much time has been wasted, but at least the most obvious decision facing the country has finally been made. The question is whether Burnham will be brave enough to approve Rosebank as well.”

    The Spectator was approached for comment.

    Article by Adam Barnett republished from DeSmog.

  • Ahead of COP31, 146 Scientists Urge UN to Declare Climate Change a Global Health Emergency

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    Article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Firefighters extinguish fire at a forested area as aerial and ground crews continue battling a wildfire in the Cine district of Aydin, Türkiye on July 31, 2026. (Photo by Mahmut Serdar Alakus/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “The health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world’s response to them, and in many cases even accelerating.

    With less than two weeks to go until the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP31, brings world leaders to Antalya, Türkiye to discuss the need to transition away from fossil fuels, nearly 150 international experts warned that climate change brought on by greenhouse gas emissions constitutes a “global health emergency” whose harms are accelerating.

    The “2026 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change,” written by researchers at University College London and the World Health Organization (WHO) and published in The Lancet, tracks dozens of indicators that link climate change to public health, including drought, extreme hurricanes and flooding, and economic losses.

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    But one top indicator that planetary heating has caused a worsening public health crisis is the extreme heat that was blamed for more than 50,000 deaths across Europe this summer, and which could lead to 450,000 excess deaths in the coming months as the climate emergency is compounded by this year’s “Super El Niño.”

    According to the report, annual average heat-related deaths have surged by nearly 36% since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, securing pledges from governments to draw down fossil fuel emissions, compared to the decade preceding the deal.

    More than 70% of the 710,000 heat-related deaths recorded in 2023 were found to be attributed to climate change, and between 2016-23, 68% of the world’s 540,800 heat-related deaths were linked to the warming planet. The previous decade, 55% of deaths caused by extreme heat were blamed on the climate emergency.

    “These numbers point to a clear emergency,” said climate health researcher Marina Romanello, the executive director of the Lancet Countdown. “The risks become even more profound when you consider how different hazards interact and compound. At the same time, drought is spreading, and the world is swinging to water extremes, some drying out, while others are flooding.”

    “Progress has been too slow, too small, and isn’t reaching those who need it most.”

    The report was published less than two months after a glacial collapse killed at least 1,000 people in Nepal and Tibet as it sent sudden extreme flooding down a mountain into a number of towns.

    Türkiye, where COP31 is set to begin on November 9, was one place where massive wildfires spread rapidly this summer, while hundreds of thousands of people in Spain and France were also displaced by fast-moving blazes.

    And in August, more than 5,000 square miles of forest burned in the Northwest Territories in Canada, sparking public health concerns when smoke drifted thousands of miles south to the continental United States.

    “A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: The health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world’s response to them, and in many cases even accelerating,” said Romanello.

    Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, head of the climate change and health unit at WHO, said the report “demonstrates that climate action is a health intervention. Cleaner energy, stronger health systems and early warning systems are saving lives today. As countries prepare for COP31, placing health at the center of climate policies can help protect communities, strengthen resilience, and deliver immediate benefits for people’s health and wellbeing.”

    The 146 scientists who authored the report noted that strides have been made in some countries in expanding clean energy infrastructure, passing health protection regulations, and preparing health systems for climate-related crises and conditions.

    But in the US, the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, the Trump administration has blocked renewable energy projects and rolled back regulations meant to reduce people’s exposure to harmful emissions.

    “Progress has been too slow, too small, and isn’t reaching those who need it most,” said Romanello. “That is why we are calling for climate change to be formally recognized as a global health emergency, with health placed at the center of every climate decision.”

    The report was released a week after the UN Environment Program warned that achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures is no longer possible, and that world leaders must now focus efforts on ensuring the overshoot is as short-lived as possible.

    In the Lancet Countdown, the researchers called on the UN to declare that climate change is a public health emergency of international concern, which could require an international response.

    “Priorities,” said WHO, “include accelerating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, increasing support for adaptation, and expanding investments that strengthen health system resilience.”

    Article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he's delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election - don't want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.

  • World must cut emissions by 18% in four years ‘to find our way back’, UN says

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/21/world-cut-emissions-un-climate-crisis

    Global temperatures are forecast to rise to 2.8C above preindustrial levels if current government policies around the world remain unchanged. Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

    Action needed to avoid disastrous overshoot of climate targets, according to organisation’s environment body

    The world needs to cut carbon emissions by nearly a fifth in the next four years, and by close to half within a decade, to avoid overshooting climate targets by a disastrous margin.

    Although the “window has closed” on holding temperature rises to 1.5C, in line with scientific advice, limiting the “overshoot” of that target is still possible, according to the UN Environment Programme (Unep).

    But countries are failing to translate their long-term targets on reducing emissions into short-term actions, a report on the “emissions gap” between climate goals and policies has found.

    …

    At the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil last November, governments were supposed to make fresh commitments under the Paris agreement to cut emissions. But the commitments made were nowhere near strong enough.

    Even if all of those updated pledges were fulfilled, temperatures would still rise to 2.6C above preindustrial levels, according to Unep’s projections, endangering life across swathes of the globe. Policy has also not kept up with pledges: on current policies around the world, temperatures would rise to 2.8C.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/21/world-cut-emissions-un-climate-crisis

    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he's delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election - don't want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.

    21.15 GMT dizzy: C’mon, time to engage your brains. Here’s your starter: “… on current policies around the world, temperatures would rise to 2.8C.”

    So we’re currently near 1.5C, it might not be officially recognised yet, it might be 1.4C but close enough to 1.5C. We currently have extreme weather as a result of 1.5C – severe hurricanes, wildfires, drought, deluges. They’re almost biblical in their extent now.

    Do you think that progression to 2.8C will be linear or logarithmic? I would go for logarithmic and I would also expect that the effects would be so extreme that we – humans – won’t survive them. My earlier rough calculation was based on a 4C increase, not sure that’s necessary.

  • Climate campaigners condemn ‘maddening’ decision to approve Jackdaw gasfield

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/21/jackdaw-gasfield-climate-campaigners-condemn-decision-north-sea-mining

    Activists gather during a protest outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in London. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

    Critics say move will jeopardise climate targets, fail to cut cost of living and distract from need to decarbonise energy

    Climate campaigners and green experts have condemned the government’s decision to allow the drilling of the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea.

    They said approval for the site would jeopardise the UK’s climate targets, fail to reduce the cost of living, and distract from the need to decarbonise the UK’s energy sector.

    Many drew parallels with the record-breaking heatwave and drought, fuelled by global heating, that the UK experienced this summer.

    “Is the prime minister living in a parallel universe? One where we haven’t just endured our hottest summer on record, with droughts, wildfires and, in all likelihood, the most heat-related deaths on record?” said Danny Gross, climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth. “And where the UN hasn’t warned that we’re on the brink of breaching the all-important 1.5C warming limit?”

    As the gas from Jackdaw will be sold on international markets, Gross said it would not bolster the UK’s energy security, but would add to global greenhouse gas emissions. “The disconnect [between the government’s green ambitions and its actions] is maddening,” he said.

    “This benefits oil giants and their shareholders and doesn’t make life more affordable as Burnham promised,” said Tessa Khan, executive director of the campaigning organisation Uplift. “Clean energy is how we lower bills, reindustrialise regions and increase public control – not by caving to an oil industry making obscene profits while pushing up bills, laying off workers and driving the heatwaves we saw this summer.”

    …

    Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/21/jackdaw-gasfield-climate-campaigners-condemn-decision-north-sea-mining

    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he's delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election - don't want democracy interfering with Capitalism.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him. He says that he’s delayed the go-ahead for Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas extraction until after the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – don’t want democracy interfering with Capitalism.

    dizzy 10.18am: I also find this very perplexing, difficult to see who benefits from it other than Shell e.g. there appears to be over-production of fossil fuels (although that doesn’t mean that they’re where they’re useful) and large fossil-fuel subsidies. I am busy, have other pressing demands on my time atm, will return to it.

  • Andy Burnham: UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/17/andy-burnham-uk-must-fully-commit-to-reaching-net-zero-by-2050

    Burnham: ‘I want Britain to believe in itself again.’ Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

    [Guardian] Exclusive: PM, who is facing pressure over whether to approve North Sea oil and gasfields, makes strongest comments yet on issue

    The UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, Andy Burnham has argued in his strongest comments yet on the issue, saying it is no longer possible for Britons to believe they are not already affected by a changing climate.

    Writing for the Guardian about new plans for a mass of community-led local green energy projects, the prime minister said the UK must “believe in itself”, and set out his determination to reach net zero targets, which have been rejected by the Conservatives and Reform UK.

    The tone marks a contrast to the summer, when Burnham faced criticism for a seemingly muted response to the heatwaves, droughts and wildfires that affected the UK, with his main initiative being a ban on portable barbecues.

    “I am determined that we meet the commitment on which Labour was elected and reach net zero by 2050,” Burnham said. “I want Britain to believe in itself again.”

    Saying he wanted to connect local communities to green power projects – to reach net zero targets and make energy more affordable – Burnham said: “I am acutely aware that our changing climate is a major concern for many Britons, not least because we have just emerged from our hottest summer on record.”

    …

    Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/17/andy-burnham-uk-must-fully-commit-to-reaching-net-zero-by-2050

    Comment by dizzy: While this is very encouraging, it is unexpected and suggests a real change in direction. Burnham’s article seems far more restrained than the Guardian’s review leads us to believe, funding of £30m is nothing and it seems devolved rather than owned by his government. There’s a saying in UK and possibly elsewhere: The proof is in the pudding. It can be interpreted to mean wait and see what comes later.

    [18/9/26 I think that this is probably BS. We’ve seen Burnham & Co do it before with this

    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.

    where an announcement is made, it’s a delaying tactic and what happens months later falls hugely short of what we were led to believe.

    Specifically, it may well be BS to mislead and misdirect for the forthcoming Holborn and St. Pancras by-election where the Green Party’s Zack Polanski is a candidate, to give the impression that he cares about the climate and may not wave through Jackdaw and Rosebank, only then to wave through Jackdaw and Rosebank. Burnham’s statement is big on talk, commitments even but the actuality is minimal.]

    Andy Burnham: British people understand the climate crisis threat. Today I’m empowering them to tackle it

    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.