UK Undermines Own Claim to Climate Leadership By Failing to End Oil and Gas Licensing in the North Sea

(Oil Change International, Washington, 24 March 2021) The United Kingdom announced a “North Sea deal to protect jobs in the green energy transition” that campaigners say fails to meet the UK’s responsibility to lead in a phase-out of domestic oil and gas extraction. In a positive step, the announcement includes further details on the earlier announced commitment to end public finance for fossil fuels, which will apply immediately. Yet, on the domestic oil and gas production side, the government’s plan falls far short of the immediate end to new licensing called for by climate groups. “Making future licensing rounds conditional on vaguely defined Climate Compatibility Checkpoints is a subterfuge aimed at concealing a simple fact: handing out new licenses for oil and gas is not compatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C. Wealthy oil and gas producing countries such as the UK have a responsibility to lead in phasing out extraction, a reality that the government ignored today. Other countries such as Denmark, New Zealand, and France have already ended oil and gas licensing rounds, and the UK is now a laggard in this respect."