2024-01-09 01:02:30
Correspondent
London
Updated Tuesday, January 9, 2024 – 00:02
Tory MPs stand up to the Prime Minister and vote against new permits in the North Sea
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.AFP
The premier Rishi Sunak has faced a rebellion within its own ranks over its plan to grant new gas and oil licenses in the North Sea which was put to a vote in Parliament on Monday. Several Conservative Party deputies stood up to their own leader and expressed their opposition to a plan that they consider a breach of climate commitments.
“A few weeks ago, the British Government signed the COP28 agreement to transition away from fossil fuels,” warned the former president of the COP26 in Glasgow. Alok Sharma. “This law will serve to double down on gas and oil licences. It is exactly the opposite of what we have agreed internationally and will help reinforce the unfortunate perception that the United Kingdom has gone backwards on its climate policies,” he said.
The former Secretary of State for Energy Chris Skidmore He went even further and announced his resignation as an MP for his opposition to Sunak’s plan. “This law is a tragedy and will only serve to increase gas and oil production,” said Skidmore, architect of the “net zero” strategy for the year 2050 during the mandate of Theresa May. “I am not willing to give my consent to a government action that may cause harm in the future,” he said.
The call Law for Petroleum Licenses in the High Seas effectively allows new annual concessions for fossil fuel exploitation in the North Sea. Up to a hundred licenses could be granted in each round (the maximum since 2016) in application of the new regulations.
A total of 300 gas and oil exploitations are currently active in the North Sea, although half of them will cease to be operational by 2030, hence the sense of urgency that the Sunak Government wanted to convey, since the period between Licensing and commercial exploitation is usually five years.
The controversy has focused above all on the oil field of Rosebank, 130 kilometers from the Shetland Islands, where the largest crude oil reserves in the United Kingdom are located. It is estimated that the exploitation could produce up to 300 million barrels of oil between now and 2050.
environmental groups Greenpeace y Uplift have taken the British Government to court for considering that the planned exploitations are incompatible with the “zero emissions” policy in 2050. It is estimated that the burning of the fuel extracted from Rosebank could generate CO2 emissions equivalent to those of 90 countries or 400 million inhabitants in a year.
Former Secretary of State for the Environment Zac Goldsmith, who resigned in June after denouncing Sunak’s “climate apathy”, has joined the criticism from the House of Lords. Goldsmith made a last-minute appeal to his conservative coreligionists, urging them to “think of his children and his grandchildren” and to put themselves “on the right side of history.”
“The Government says this is a law to ensure energy security,” Goldsmith added. “But the reality is that the gas and oil extracted from the North Sea will be in the hands of private companies, and the Government will not be able to prevent them from being exported, nor will it be able to lower energy rates,” he said.
The Labor Party strongly opposed the new law. Your Energy spokesperson Ed Miliband He described it as “a ruthless attempt to double the production of fossil fuels that will not serve to lower bills or guarantee energy security, and will contribute to a climate disaster.”
In the midst of the countdown to the 2024 elections, the Labor opposition also faces its own contradictions over energy policy. The leader of the opposition and candidate for prime minister Keir Starmer It has recently lowered its commitment to invest up to 32 billion euros annually in the energy transition and in its green agenda if it comes to power.
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