Backsliding on the green agenda

28 October 2023

UK Government approves new oil licences

The Herald  30 October 2023  David Bol

The UK Government has issued 27 new oil and gas licences in the North Sea
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The new licences have been issued for quicker-to-production areas and have been prioritised because the UK Government believes it will boost energy security.
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But climate campaigners warned the Prime Minister has moved to “pander to corporate interests”, adding that the move will “make no difference to bills, do nothing for energy security, and produce yet more profits for dizzyingly wealthy companies”.

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New licences a symbol of Sunak's hot air  -  more to come

The Herald  31 October 2023  Vicky Allan

Rishi Sunak still occasionally speaks the language of Net Zero, much to the fury of those Conservative sceptics who would have him ditch all reference to the project all together – but it seems increasingly like undisguised hot air.

It’s not just the 27 oil and gas licences, issued yesterday by the North Sea Transition Authority, and just around a quarter of the 100 that are set to be fast tracked, or even the fact that Rosebank, the UK’s biggest undeveloped oilfield, recently got the green light. It's also there in the news that, in the King’s Speech, the prime minister is going to double down even harder on the retreat from Net Zero.

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SNP court action over climate investment

The Herald  31 October 2023  David Bol

SNP ministers have been threatened with court action for failing to produce a full climate impact assessment for a key investment plan despite admitting a failure to do so has breached its own legislation.

The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) and the Good Law Project have warned that the Scottish Government could be taken to court if it fails to bring forward the full climate impact assessment to its £26 billion infrastructure investment plan, which is key to Scotland achieving its legal 2045 net zo target.

Last month, the Scottish Government accepted its failure to produce the assessment was a breach of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

In a letter, the Scottish Government pledged to begin “urgent work” after admitting they have breached their own legal climate change legislation.

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Banks financing fossil fuel 'carbon bombs' 

The Guardian  31 October 2023  Ajit Niranjan

Banks pumped more than $150bn last year into companies whose giant “carbon bomb” projects could destroy the last chance of stopping the planet heating to dangerous levels, the Guardian can reveal.

The carbon bombs – 425 extraction projects that can each pump more than one gigaton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – cumulatively hold enough coal, oil and gas to burn through the rapidly dwindling carbon budget four times over. Between 2016 and 2022, banks mainly in the US, China and Europe gave $1.8tn in financing to the companies running them, new research shows.

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