Rishi Sunak says approving new licences for oil and gas drilling ‘entirely consistent’ with net zero plan – UK politics live - The Guardian

Rishi Sunak says approving new licences for oil and gas drilling ‘entirely consistent’ with net zero plan - UK politics live | Politics | The Guardian

Rishi Sunak says approving new licences for oil and gas drilling 'entirely consistent' with net zero plan

Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to Aberdeenshire, the prime minister said approving new licences for drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea is “entirely consistent with our plan to get to net zero”.

Rishi Sunak said domestic oil and gas saves “two, three, four times the amount of carbon emissions” than “shipping it from halfway around the world”.

Questioned on whether the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea would be approved, he said:
Licensing decisions are obviously made the normal way but what I’d say is that – entirely consistent with transitioning to net zero – that we use the energy that we’ve got here at home because we’re going to need it for decades.

Downing Street was asked about a tweet by Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands last year which suggested extracting more North Sea gas would not lower global prices.

Asked about Hands’ claim in February 2022 that more UK production would not reduce the price of gas, a No 10 spokeswoman said:

I’m not sure of that particular tweet but I think what has been clear and has been made clear by the independent North Sea Transition Authority is that the two policy positions are totally compatible.

They admit themselves that beyond hitting net zero oil and gas will remain a part of the mix of energy that provides for the UK.

Pressed on whether that meant prices would fall, the official said:

Importing oil and gas from other countries, not only would that, necessarily, because you are reducing domestic supply, you are also increasing costs by importing and potentially also increasing carbon emissions because of the importation of the oil and gas.

I don’t see why and the prime minister doesn’t believe that if we have the resources here at home we shouldn’t use them.

Scientists have tentatively welcomed Sunak’s decision to fund more carbon capture and storage (CCS), but said it could be a “deal with the devil” which greenwashes oilfields and allows for more oil and gas extraction than can be stored.

Myles Allen FRS, a professor of geosystem sciences at the University of Oxford, said:

Great to see much-needed investment in carbon capture, but why does the taxpayer need to foot the bill when the main beneficiaries are precisely those companies looking for new oil and gas licences?

The solution is increasingly obvious: make new extraction conditional on responsible CO2 disposal. At current prices, extractors can certainly afford it.

Scientists have also said the CCS funding should not be connected to new oil and gas licences. Paul Fennell, a professor of clean energy at Imperial College London, said:
I welcome the announcement on carbon capture, which is important for the future and allows some sectors, such as steel and cement, which produce important things which are not easily substitutable by other materials, and which intrinsically produce CO2, to continue. We need every arrow in the armory. I abhor the implicit connection with new oil and gas licences.

Stuart Haszeldine, a professor of carbon capture and storage at the University of Edinburgh, said:
Storage of 2m or 5m tonnes CO2 per year should not become a policy excuse to release additional 10’s or 100’s million tonnes CO2 from development of new oil and gas extraction through many tens of new licences. If Rosebank field (Equinor) goes ahead, that is 200m tonnes of extra CO2, if Jackdaw field (Shell) is developed that is 70m tonnes extra CO2.

Rishi Sunak says ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars remains government policy

The ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 remains government policy, the prime minister has said.

Rishi Sunak has been under mounting pressure after more than 40 Conservative MPs and peers wrote to him calling for the deadline to be pushed back, PA Media reports.

However, the prime minister said it remained part of his agenda and reiterated his commitment to transition to net zero in a “proportionate and pragmatic way”.

Echoing Sunak, the energy minister Andrew Bowie told Sky News: “We remain committed to ensuring that more people get access to, are able to buy, are able to drive electric and hybrid cars.”

Their comments came as Sunak announced at least 100 new oil and sea gas licences alongside a new carbon capture scheme in north-east Scotland.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme about the 2030 ban, Sunak said:

That’s about new cars, not all existing cars. So it’s the sale of new cars. That’s been the government’s policy for a long time. It remains the government’s policy.

But what I have said more generally on my approach, is that we will transition to net zero, I’m committed to it, but we will do it in a proportionate and pragmatic way that doesn’t necessarily add burden or cost to families’ bills, particularly at a time when inflation is higher than any of us would have liked.

And more generally, on motorists, I think actually, this was down recently to the Ulez expansion that your listeners may or may not be familiar about, which I don’t think is the right thing.

I think at a time when, as I said, families are looking at bills and worried about inflation, adding £12.50 on to their life every time they visit the supermarket or a GP or drop their kids off at football practice does not seem to me to be the right thing to do.

Bowie told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

The prime minister has been quite clear we are committed to the 2030 target for the phasing out of new petrol or diesel cars, the sale of that.

That doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to drive a petrol [or] diesel car post-2030 but the sale of petrol [and] diesel cars, we are hoping that our aim is that we will see [it] start from 2030.

We remain committed to that target. We remain committed to ensuring that more people get access to, are able to buy, are able to drive electric and hybrid cars.

Rishi Sunak says approving new licences for oil and gas drilling 'entirely consistent' with net zero plan

Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to Aberdeenshire, the prime minister said approving new licences for drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea is “entirely consistent with our plan to get to net zero”.

Rishi Sunak said domestic oil and gas saves “two, three, four times the amount of carbon emissions” than “shipping it from halfway around the world”.

Questioned on whether the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea would be approved, he said:

Licensing decisions are obviously made the normal way but what I’d say is that – entirely consistent with transitioning to net zero – that we use the energy that we’ve got here at home because we’re going to need it for decades.

A man seen as one of the key architects of Theresa May’s disastrous 2017 election campaign has been selected by the Conservative party to fight Matt Hancock’s seat at the next general election.

Nick Timothy abruptly resigned from his post as May’s chief of staff when MPs put pressure on her to get rid of him, shortly after the party lost its majority in the 2017 vote and had to turn to the Democratic Unionist party to form a government.

Timothy, 43, who supported Brexit, was a special adviser to May in the Home Office during the era of the hostile environment policy that led to the Windrush scandal. He was confirmed as West Suffolk’s Tory parliamentary candidate on Sunday night.

As co-author of May’s election manifesto and its “dementia tax” policy – which put no cap on social care costs but allowed people to keep £100,000 of assets – he was widely blamed by the Tories for the election results.

“My phone rang. It was Theresa … I could hear the disappointment and hurt and anger in her voice,” he wrote.

“There was terror, too. I had seen or heard her cry before, but this was different. She was sobbing. I remember thinking she sounded like a child who wanted to be told everything was just fine.”

Hancock, the former health secretary, currently represents the constituency as an independent and has said he will stand down at the next general election. He had the Tory whip removed in November when he agreed to appear on the ITV reality programme, I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

Timothy is understood to have strong family ties to the constituency, which was won by the Tories in 2019 with a majority of 23,000 votes.

A local Conservative councillor, Lance Stanbury, welcomed the selection of Timothy, who had previously tried and failed to be selected for the Meriden constituency in the West Midlands in 2019.

“Delighted, absolutely delighted that Nick has been selected to fight for West Suffolk,” Stanbury told the PA Media news agency.

Sir David King, a former government chief scientific adviser and founder and chair of the climate crisis advisory group,has responded to the government’s announcement:

Rishi Sunak is now breaking openly with the all-party agreement dating back to 2008, which led to the set up of the world’s first climate change committee of parliament.

The proposal to issue at least 100 new oil and gas licences is another drain on our failing economy. The crises covering the [northern hemisphere] now – following four successive summers – means oil, gas [and] coal must be phased out quickly.

And that means this will be another stranded asset. The public will surely see this as a desperate act of electioneering, putting our future at severe risk. Britain can no longer claim to be leading on the climate crisis and that is shameful.

Green groups say Rishi Sunak's 'international credibility is on the line'

Helena Horton

Green groups have criticised Sunak’s plans to issue more oil and gas licences as “dangerously incoherent” as the planet boils.

Philip Evans, from the Greenpeace UK climate team, said:

This new announcement is nothing but a cynical political ploy to sow division, and the climate is collateral damage. Just as wildfires and floods wreck homes and lives around the world, Rishi Sunak’s government has decided to row back on key climate policies, attempted to toxify net zero, and recycled old myths about North Sea drilling.

If Sunak were serious about boosting our energy security while keeping energy bills down, he’d remove the absurd barriers holding back cheap, homegrown renewables and launch a nationwide insulation programme to tackle energy waste in our homes.

Experts also pointed out that his plans will not, as he claims, bring down bills. Jess Ralston, the head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said:

Government is currently subsidising oil and gas companies to drill more in the North Sea. This will not bring down bills as there isn’t enough gas to move the dial on international market prices and the oil and gas industry’s own estimates show the North Sea will continue to decline no matter what the government policy is.

Prioritising oil and gas over cheaper renewables and pushing back regulations on insulation in rental homes, both of which would bring down bills, is against advice from the International Energy Agency, United Nations and Climate Change Committee. And while carbon capture will be an important technology for some industries, like manufacturing, it’s yet to be seen how much it will cost or where it will be most useful.

Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, added:

Climate change is already battering the planet with unprecedented wildfires and heatwaves across the globe. Granting hundreds of new oil and gas licences will simply pour more fuel on the flames, while doing nothing for energy security as these fossil fuels will be sold on international markets and not reserved for UK use.

Rishi Sunak’s international credibility is on the line. He promised other world leaders the UK would cut carbon by more than two thirds by 2030. His recent announcements on energy and transport look as though he is reneging on the UK’s commitments. The prime minister should stop playing politics with young people’s futures and build the safe, clean economy we urgently need.

Others have said leaders of low-income countries, which have been urged by the UK government and other rich western countries to decarbonise, will be watching this announcement with some surprise.

Today’s wrongheaded decision is yet another example of the government’s hypocritical and dangerously inconsistent climate policy.

Extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea will send a wrecking ball through the UK’s climate commitments at a time when we should be investing in a just transition to a low-carbon economy and our own abundant renewables.

As millions of people in low-income countries are pushed deeper into hunger and poverty by a climate crisis they haven’t caused, high-emitting and wealthy countries like the UK can no longer just talk the talk – they must walk the walk.

This is the wrong decision at precisely the wrong time when the rest of the world is experiencing record heat waves. It is on the wrong side of the future economy that will be founded on renewable and clean industries and not fossil fuels.

It is on the wrong side of modern voters who will vote with their feet at the next general election for parties that protect, and not threaten, our environment. And it is on the wrong side of history that will not look favourably on the decision taken today.

Worryingly, this decision has also been announced when MPs are on recess, unable to hold the government to account.

I will be writing to the speaker to call for an emergency debate as soon as we return.

Fossil fuels will continue to play a “major role” in Britain’s energy base for years to come, a Conservative MP has said.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday after the government announced it would approve 100 new licences for oil and gas production in the North Sea, Andrew Bowie, the minister for nuclear and networks, said:

This is about maxing out our oil and gas reserves and that means that we will be much more energy secure and less dependent on hostile actors like Vladimir Putin.

The independent climate change committee understands that fossil fuels will play a major role in our energy base for years to come so we think it’s essential that that fossil fuel comes from British water, ensuring the revenue comes to the British exchequer rather than paying to import, which would have a higher CO2 emission and rely on sometimes hostile foreign powers.

Responding to accusations by the campaign group Greenpeace that the government’s funding for a carbon capture project in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is “greenwashing”, Bowie said:

I don’t recognise that. We are committed to reaching net zero by 2050.

We were the first parliament in the world to legislate for that. Carbon capturing plays a major role in delivering that.

The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) has criticised the government’s announcement of support for new oil and gas projects in the North Sea.

The REA chief executive, Nina Skorupska, said:

If the government are serious about delivering energy security, while reaching net zero in a pragmatic way, they should be delivering the cheapest forms of generation. This means low-carbon projects that are unaffected by changes in the volatile fossil energy markets, [which are] the cause of both increased energy costs and security concerns.

Instead, today, the government are supporting new fossil fuel exploration while support mechanisms like the US Inflation Reduction Act, and the UK government’s electricity generator levy, a windfall tax on renewables, is seeing the UK attractiveness for low-carbon investment diminish.

Real energy security will be delivered by reinforcing our grid systems and sorting out planning delays so that low-carbon generation can be built quickly.

The development of CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage) should also be targeted at bio-energy applications, not capturing carbon that should stay in the ground. Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage delivers critical negative emissions recognised as essential for getting to net zero.

New oil and gas licences will bolster the UK’s energy independence and economy for generations, Grant Shapps has said.

In a statement, the energy security secretary said:

Safeguarding energy bills for British families and providing a homegrown fuel for our economy that, for domestic gas production, has around one-quarter the carbon footprint of imported liquified natural gas.

Our next steps to develop carbon capture and storage, in Scotland and the Humber, will also help to build a thriving new industry for our North Sea that could support as many as 50,000 jobs, as we deliver on our priority of growing the economy.

The government should have “another look” at the 2030 ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles as the UK risks “simply becoming even more dependent on China”, Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said.

Speaking to Sky News, the former Tory party leader said the 2030 target was “plucked out of nowhere”, adding:

If you want to get them to clean emissions, you’ve got to do it in a way that still keeps our industry going in the UK.

If we rush to this, what we risk right now is simply becoming even more dependent on China. China is ready to literally flood the market here with cheap electric cars, all their battery companies, which, by the way, are many, and they produce far more batteries than the whole of Europe put together ... They are going to dump those on us.

There’s also issues around security, our ability to switch those batteries off.

He went on:

So it’s important for us to have another look at that 2030 target because it’s pretty arbitrary and Europe, for example, has moved the target back to 2035, America is back at 2035.

We are rapidly becoming the only developed country in the world that is still clinging to an arbitrary target which we probably won’t make, and which is going to destroy much of our industry.

Rishi Sunak’s visit to north-east Scotland today will focus on North Sea energy with the intention of drawing a dividing line between the government and Labour’s plan to ban new oil and gas projects.

A Downing Street announcement said the prime minister will meet “key energy industry figures and companies”, and outline policies to ensure energy security.

As well as giving Sunak a relatively rare foray into Scotland, where the Conservatives are seen as vulnerable in the six seats they hold, the visit is also intended as a chance to attack Labour’s plans on energy.

Environmental groups and scientists have said an end to new fossil fuel projects is vital to meet net zero goals, but Sunak and his ministers have argued that the ban could leave the UK vulnerable.

The Scottish Greens, the SNP’s partners in government, said that while carbon capture and storage had a role, it “must not be used as a justification for more North Sea drilling, which will have a devastating impact on our environment and take us even closer to climate breakdown”.

Ed Miliband, the shadow climate secretary, said:

Every family and business is paying the price, in higher energy bills, of 13 years of failed Tory energy policy. It is absurd that having left this country so exposed, the Conservative party is asking the public to believe they can fix it.

And it’s telling that while Labour focuses on lower bills and good jobs, Rishi Sunak lurches desperately towards a culture war on climate to appease his split party, losing track of what he believes from day to day, depending on which faction he’s met with.

It’s no way to govern and it’s costing working people.

The SNP Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, welcomed the UK government’s announcement on funding for the the Acorn carbon capture project in Aberdeenshire.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme:
Whilst I do welcome the fact that we are now in this position, and it is of course excellent news for the north-east of Scotland, I’m very frustrated that it’s taken 18 years to get to this point.

He added:

I think in anything that comes from the UK government the devil will very much be in the detail, but I don’t think anyone can step away from the fact that this is a positive step in the right direction after 18 years of dither and delay.

I guess the key thing now is making sure ... that the UK government back up this announcement today with real progress in terms of timing and the evaluation process.

Asked how he was travelling to Scotland this morning, a rather grumpy Rishi Sunak, who ended the interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme when it reached the five-minute limit imposed by No 10, replied:
I’ll be flying as I normally would.

He then told the Scottish BBC presenter Martin Geissler:

If you or others think that the answer to climate change is getting people to ban everything that they’re doing, just to stop people going on holiday, I think that’s absolutely the wrong approach.

Every prime minister before me has also used planes to travel around the United Kingdom because it’s an efficient use of time for the person running the country so we can keep focusing on delivery for people.

Rishi Sunak has claimed that the approval of about 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences will help the UK reach its target of meeting net zero by 2050.

Making a visit to Aberdeenshire on Monday, the prime minister stressed his desire to maintain UK fossil fuel exploration, a key political dividing line with Labour, which has said it will stop any new North Sea drilling if it comes to power.

Before the visit, No 10 unveiled a plan for a new round of licences, as well as plans for two new carbon capture and storage facilities, including the Acorn scheme in north-east Scotland, which missed out when two other sites were chosen for such facilities in 2021.

While environmentalists and many scientists have said new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with net zero targets, Sunak told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that the licences were integral to the plan.

Insisting he remained committed to the 2050 target, and to the deadline of stopping the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, Sunak said:
This is a good story for the UK overall. It’s not about political seats, it’s just about doing the right thing for the country.

A parallel announcement on carbon capture and storage schemes results in the Acorn project in north-east Scotland and Viking in the Humber being picked for development by 2030.

Two earlier projects selected in 2021, one in Humber and Teesside, and the other in Liverpool Bay, are expected to come into use by the mid-2020s.

The announcement on new licences, which was handed to the Times overnight before being released generally on Monday morning, said about 100 were expected to be awarded, with the first confirmed in the autumn.

Rishi Sunak announces hundreds of new oil and gas licences

Rishi Sunak has confirmed hundreds of new oil and gas licences will be granted in the UK.

The prime minister said new oil and gas drilling licences for the North Sea would help the UK achieve net zero carbon emissions – and that the plan would strengthen the UK’s energy independence and reduce reliance on hostile states, such as Russia.

Sunak, who is visiting Aberdeenshire today, said using domestic oil and gas would be better for the environment than importing it.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, he said:

Even when we reach net zero in 2050 a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas, and domestic gas production has about a quarter or a third of the carbon footprint of imported gas.

So not only is it better on our energy security not to rely on foreign dictators for that energy, not only is it good for jobs, particularly Scottish jobs, it is actually better for the environment because there is no point in importing stuff from halfway around the world with two to three times the carbon footprint of the stuff we’ve got at home. That makes absolutely no sense.

This is about is strengthening our energy security for the whole of the United Kingdom.

We’ve seen over the last year the impact of [Vladimir] Putin’s war. We don’t want to be in hock to dictators like that when it comes to our energy, and an important part of guarding against that is investing in our North Sea.

And that’s what today’s announcement is about: making sure that we have future oil and gas licensing rounds.

He said it was “important that we get energy from here at home”, stressing that the sector supports 200,000 jobs.

With the further investment in carbon capture and storage, including the Acorn project, he added: “That’s going to be great for Scottish jobs and help us transition to net zero.”
Rishi Sunak studies some plants during a visit to a public park in Bexley, England over the weekend. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Getty Images