UK government pushes on with fossil fuel expansion

Despite growing concern over the UK’s failure to reach climate net-zero, with Scotland’s missed climate targets and Sunak’s less ambitious climate strategies, new rules have been set in place to allow the expansion of oil and gas firms to share sites with wind farms in the North Sea.  

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), who is responsible for overseeing the regulation of oil and gas industries in the North Sea, has granted 31 licenses for firms to search and drill for oil and gas off the UK coastline. This comes as part of the 33rd round of oil and gas licensing, taking the total to 82 licenses awarded by the NSTA. The new rules mean that oil and gas firms will be able to operate in the same space as wind farms, allowing for the expansion of the UK’s fossil fuel industry overall.  

The decision has sparked huge criticism from environmental groups, who suggest that the government continues to look in the wrong direction.

The predominant reason given for allowing the continued expansion of fossil fuels has been put down to removing the UK’s reliance on imported gas and increasing national energy security, with Offshore Energies UK’s CEO David Whitehouse commenting that: “New oil and gas licences benefit every sector in the UK. They will help to bring secure supplies of homegrown gas into our grid.” In the context of the cost-of-living crisis and global conflicts, many people have called into question how effective our current energy systems are, with particular pressure to diversify these energy sources. But, we must ask, what should new energy infrastructure look like in the context of the climate crisis? 

Although exploration licences, such as the ones granted by the NSTA, do not always lead to producing fields (that actually yield oil or gas), the decision still greatly facilitates the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. The decision has sparked huge criticism from environmental groups, who suggest that the government continues to look in the wrong direction. Renewable UK, the trade association for wind, wave, and tidal power industries in the UK, has urged instead for the prioritisation of renewable energy, suggesting these methods should form “the backbone of our future system, not fossil fuels.” 

This is especially poignant, as the capability of renewable energy to support the economy is continuously ignored by UK politicians in favour of fossil fuel expansion. Currently, wind power is one of the UK’s largest renewable sources of energy. In 2023, it contributed 29.4% of the UK’s total electricity generation. Yet the new licensing continues to signal the government’s inconsistency with its net-zero pledges. Former Conservative MP, Chris Skidmore shared a statement online condemning the UK government’s continued interest in fossil fuels: ‘While no one is denying that there is a role for existing oil and gas in the transition to net zero, the International Energy Agency, the UNCCC and the Committee on Climate Change have all stated that there must be no new additional oil and gas production on top of what has already been committed.’ 

As it stands, the UK is the second most aggressive explorer and producer of oil and gas in Europe.

The NSTA itself has said that the change “will be the main commercial mechanism […] to support co-existence of these important industries”, implying a benefit to both off-shore wind farms and oil and gas production as they support national energy demands. The NTSA also affirms its commitment to holding the “industry to account on halving upstream emissions by 2030.” However, it is undeniable that the additional expansion of fossil fuels places the UK’s target to keep global heating below 1.5°C at risk. 

Recent reports have detailed how the UK’s failure to stop approving the development of new fossil fuel sites could have ‘the biggest potential climate impact of all North Sea countries.’ In fact, as it stands, the UK is the second most aggressive explorer and producer of oil and gas in Europe. Research suggests that in order to keep on track to reach climate targets, the government must divest from fossil fuel expansion as soon as possible. If the UK intends on redeeming its position as a climate leader, then more must be done to wind down fossil fuel production and aid our transition to net-zero by 2050.