NORTH Sea oil, once an opportunity to be seized, looks more now like a source of future shame – no wonder there’s not enough talk about it.
Last week when the International Energy Agency issued a report on measures needed to achieve the world’s climate goals, its head, Fatih Birol, said, “If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year.”
Yet the UK is still issuing oil and gas licenses. Earlier this year a ban was mooted but instead Boris Johnson’s government made the decision to continue to issue, though with the requirement of a “climate compatibility test”. Meanwhile, here in Scotland, oil is too often the elephant in the room in discussion around independence.
Is anywhere tackling this with proper seriousness? The Scottish government has put strong goals into its climate act and was the first to declare a climate emergency. But still what is missing from the SNP is clarity: what role would oil have in an independent Scotland? Has the policy of “maximum economic extraction” of oil been fully ditched?
Though there's increasing acceptance that the time when an economic case for Scotland’s independence could revolve around oil is gone, questions remain unanswered. We might rather these days say “it was” Scotland’s oil, than "it is", reserving anger for past losses, rather than pinning our hopes on oil. There are worse losses, such as those being felt now at the frontline of the climate crisis.
READ MORE: Fifty years ago we struck the first North Sea oil. Is it now time to turn the tap off?
What’s needed now is proper engagement with what letting go of oil might mean and a fully committed transition might be – one that’s not just about what the oil industry thinks it should look like, but about what’s best for all those that live here.
Let’s also allow no let up in the questioning of the UK government. To see how little UK policy is doing to slow and halt extraction, you only have to look at recent analysis by Rystad Energy, which found that the UK fiscal regime offered the best “profitability conditions for operators” developing offshore projects in the world. Such is the inertia that three climate activists earlier this month applied for a judicial review of the Oil & Gas Authority’s strategy to “maximise the economic recovery” of oil and gas.
Of course, we can’t talk about cutting extraction, without mentioning demand. Sometimes it can sound like government plans to cut demand are well underway – the switch to electric cars, the decarbonising of our homes – but then we learn that the Public Accounts Committee found the UK government far from prepared for the “huge challenge” of phasing out new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.
Talking to the Guardian last week, Fatih Birol observed that there was a “growing gap between the rhetoric [from governments] and the reality”. Let’s not let that gap linger. It’s time to get serious.
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