UK risks net zero goals without end date for North Sea oil and gas projects
The UK needs to accelerate plans to cut emissions or risk not reaching its net zero ambitions, warned the chair of a Westminster panel of MPs, after the government snubbed its recommendations to bring in a clear end date for oil and gas licensing in the North Sea, and to speed up the ban on flaring.
Philip Dunne, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, argued its calls were “practicable and achievable” and that it was “disappointing” the government “failed to accept a single recommendation.”
“Instead, we received a response which reiterated existing policy initiatives. These initiatives in themselves are clearly insufficient to accelerate emissions reductions at a pace necessary to put us firmly on the path to net zero” he said.
Dunne urged the government to demonstrate its ambition by setting out achievable targets and coherent action plans ahead of the rumoured “Green Day” next week.
In January earlier this year, the EAC outlined a series of proposals to speed up decarbonisation of energy supply – with the North Sea industry making up nearly half the UK’s gas supplies.
It argued the end date for licences should “fall well before 2050,” and that ministers should consult on when the date should be based on the Paris Agreement goals of maintaining temperature rises to 1.5°C.
The committee also recommended that “routine flaring of unwanted fossil gas must be banned outright, as it has been by Norway since 1971.”
It called on the government to bring in an amendment to the upcoming Energy Bill – with a “total prohibition” of flaring from installations in the UK by the end of 2025.
This was also pushed for in the review of net zero by Chris Skidmore earlier this year.
Downing Street turned down both recommendations in its response to the committee, which was published this week.
Commenting on its North Sea policy, government argued it “would not be helpful environmentally, economically or in terms of maintaining offshore skills for the transition, to reduce domestic production where this merely increases our dependency on imports.”
It said: “Even with significantly reduced fossil fuel use in 2050, the UK is projected to remain a net importer of both. A faster decline in domestic production would mean greater reliance on imports, at greater expense, and in the case of gas, potentially resulting in additional global emissions.”
Earlier this year, North Sea Transition Authority announced that 115 bids for further exploration and drilling in the UK waters have been made in the latest licensing round.
Meanwhile, the costs of energy imports spiked last year amid soaring oil and gas prices, alongside declining production in the North Sea.
The government also defended its current approach to flaring, with the UK signed up to The World Bank Zero Routine Flaring initiative, which aims to eliminate routine flaring of gas globally.
“Under the initiative we have committed to make every effort to ensure that routine flaring from existing oil fields ends as soon as possible, and no later than 2030,” the government said.