The UK government has paused making decisions on new oil and gas in the North Sea while it examines how to regulate new drilling. And it’s asking the public for our views.
The world has already discovered more fossil fuels than it is safe to burn. It is crucial that countries like the UK take a stand for climate justice by leaving fossil fuels in the ground.
This is our chance to tell our government to stop new drilling in the North Sea, end licensing for new exploration, and fund a just transition to clean energy.
Please add your name to the petition to Keir Starmer now.
Petition text
To the Prime Minister
We, the undersigned, believe that the UK Government must:
1. Stop new drilling. The UK government needs to stop allowing oil and gas companies to open up new drilling sites in UK waters, including new projects like Rosebank. It’s not fair that, while the rest of us are trying to do our bit for the climate, a handful of oil and gas companies are allowed to push the world past safe climate limits just to make more profit.
2. End new licensing. The government needs to deliver on its promise to stop handing out new licences to explore for even more oil and gas. The world has already discovered far more fossil fuels than are safe to burn. New licensing, which is expected to produce less than 4 days of extra gas a year on average, won’t protect jobs or boost UK energy security. We need the government to tell the industry enough, and no more.
3. Come up with a plan for workers, supply chains and communities. New oil and gas drilling isn’t the answer for the UK’s energy workforce, which has seen the number of jobs supported by the oil and gas industry more than halve in the past decade as the North Sea declines. What supply chains, workers, and their communities need is a coherent and properly financed plan from government to create good quality, clean energy jobs in the places that need them most, and then help for oil and gas workers to transition into them.
Photo: Igor Hotinsky/Shutterstock