The British government on Monday July 31 promised “hundreds” of new oil and gas exploration and exploitation licenses in the North Sea, but this relaxation of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s approach to global warming has been condemned by environmental groups.
This announcement comes in full questioning, within the conservative majority but also in the Labor opposition, of certain green policies because of their cost for the British, hard hit by inflation.
With this announcement, Rishi Sunak, who presented himself during the weekend as a defender of motorists who are victims of green policies, is also directly opposed to Labour. Labour, widely given the lead in the next legislative elections in 2024, wants to end the granting of new oil and gas exploration licenses in the North Sea.
“We have all witnessed how (Russian President Vladimir) Putin instrumentalized energy, disrupting supplies and stalling growth in countries around the world,” the conservative prime minister said in a statement. “It is more vital than ever that we strengthen our energy security and capitalize on this independence to bring more affordable and clean energy to UK homes and businesses,” added Rishi Sunak.
The Prime Minister assured that even when the UK achieves its carbon neutral target by 2050, a quarter of its energy needs will come from oil and gas.
Greenpeace denounced a “cynical political stratagem to sow division”, of which “the climate is collateral damage”. “As fires and floods devastate homes and lives around the world, Rishi Sunak’s government has decided to back down on key climate policies,” said Philip Evans, climate manager at Greenpeace UK.
First licenses in the fall
Green politics seem to be in the hot seat in the UK, especially since Labour’s surprise defeat by the Conservatives in a local election in West London. This result was put on the account of the mistrust of the voters vis-a-vis the extension envisaged at the end of August of a tax on the polluting vehicles with the whole of Large London wanted by the labor mayor Sadiq Khan. Under strong pressure from a fringe of the majority, the government has hinted that certain environmental objectives could be relaxed, in particular on energy standards for housing.
Support for oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea will help maintain more than 200,000 jobs, says Downing Street. The first new licenses are to be issued in the fall. The government has also unveiled the first two CO2 capture and storage sites in the North Sea, a sector likely to support up to 50,000 jobs, according to Downing Street. But some environmentalists accuse this technology of being able to serve as an excuse for the continued exploitation of fossil fuels.
A “green varnish”, denounced Friends of the Earth. If this technology worked one day, which this association doubts in the short term, it would not capture “all the climate pollution caused by the combustion of fossil fuels” or the emissions during their extraction.
Involved in one of them, the Shell group hailed a “central project” among the projects to “decarbonize operations in the North Sea”.
“Apathy” on the climate
“We will make the transition to carbon neutrality,” Rishi Sunak told BBC Scotland. “But we will do it in a proportionate and pragmatic way that doesn’t necessarily add to the burden or price of families’ bills.”
According to a spring YouGov poll, 65% of Britons say they are worried about the consequences of climate change, but the majority oppose most measures that would require personal effort.
The UK is feeling the effects of global warming. A report from the meteorological services recently warned that the record temperatures of the summer of 2022, when the 40°C were exceeded, would appear “fresh” by the end of the century.
At the end of June, the Secretary of State in charge of the climate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zac Goldsmith – close to the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson – left the government, accusing in particular of Rishi Sunak of not being interested in climate change. environment and denouncing the “apathy” of the executive on the climate.