© Reuters. UK government commits to new North Sea licences
Proactive Investors - The UK Government has committed to granting UK and licences despite new projects going against 2050 net-zero targets.
Graham Stuart, minister for climate and net zero, confirmed the government’s stance at the Innovate Zero Congress but refused to comment on any specific project.
According to the Evening Standard, scientists and campaigners are worried permission will be granted to Norwegian firm Equinor (LON:) to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Atlantic.
The project is estimated to be able to produce around 500mln barrels of oil.
Stuart claims the government “would never” license oil and gas development that wasn’t compatible with net zero.
“We firmly believe that producing our own oil and gas as net importers, and will continue to be even as demand drops, is the right thing to do,” Stuart said.
Stuart said developing closer to home is better for the environment as it would reduce the emissions involved with shipping fuel from overseas.
However, the International Energy Agency has previously said there must be no new oil and gas projects if the world is to become net zero by 2050.
“If the Government had a shred of interest in limiting the impacts of the climate crisis, it would reverse its decision to allow more fossil fuel production and stop propping up an industry that’s destroying the planet,” said Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Philip Evans.
Read more on Proactive Investors UK
Disclaimer
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.