Rishi Sunak says new oil and gas permits are ‘entirely consistent’ with net zero
The PM was accused of massively over-hyping the benefit his new fuel production plans will have on the UK's carbon emissions.
Granting hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licences is ‘entirely consistent’ with the UK’s net zero pledge, Rishi Sunak has said.
The prime minister flew to Aberdeenshire on Monday to announce permits for more than 100 new projects from this autumn and pledge many more down the line.
He immediately came under fire from environmental campaigners, Labour and green-minded Tories, who accused him of undermining Britain’s chances of meeting its legal requirement to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Mr Sunak was also criticised for ‘putting a green gloss’ on the move claiming it is ‘better for the climate’ and talking up smaller eco pledges at the same time.
He also used his visit to confirm two new carbon capture and storage projects, an emerging technology which extracts CO2 from the air and stores it underground.
He told reporters: ‘It is really important for everyone to recognise that even in 2050 when we are at net zero, it is forecast that around a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas – that’s why technologies like carbon capture and storage are important.
‘But what is important then is we get that oil and gas in the best possible way and that means getting it here at home.
‘[It is] better for our energy security, not being reliant on foreign dictators, better for jobs, for example 100,000 supported here in Scotland, but also better for the climate because if we are going to need it, far better to have it here at home.’
Mr Sunak argued drilling in the North Sea means oil and gas would not need to be imported ‘from halfway around the world with two, three, four times the carbon emissions’.
He did not provide any figures indicating how much less CO2 the UK would end up emitting this way.
But the emissions produced by a tanker shipping fuel across the world are a tiny fraction of the emissions produced by burning all the fuel it can transport, meaning the move will make a comparably small dent on the UK’s overall footprint.
The Climate Change Committee, the independent public body advising the government on its green pledges, said expanding fossil fuel production would not be ‘in line with net zero’.
The UK can still hit net zero if it continues to emit greenhouses gases, as some emissions can never be completely eliminated.
This would be achieved by offsetting them, such as through carbon capture, planting trees and restoring peatlands.
Climate experts hailed the newly supported carbon capture projects as a ‘game-changer’ – but warned they will fall well short of the UK’s offsetting needs if the new North Sea licences are granted.
The government’s own net zero plans include capturing 30 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030 and 50 million tonnes by 2035.
One of the projects, Aberdeenshire-based Acorn, will see around 5 million tonnes of CO2 stores every year in its first phase, scaling up in future.
The Humber-based Viking project aims to store around 1.3 million a year over the next 12 years.
Mike Childs, head of policy at environmental charity Friends of the Earth, said: ‘Talking up carbon capture and storage is an obvious attempt to put a green gloss on the Prime Minister’s announcement.
‘Even if it ever worked, which is unlikely in the near term, CCS won’t capture all the climate pollution caused by burning fossil fuels or address the significant emissions that are created when gas and oil is extracted.’
Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage at Edinburgh University, told Energy Voice: ‘Storage of 2 or 5 million tonnes CO2 per year should not become a policy excuse to release many tens million tonnes per year from development of new oil and gas extraction.
‘Energy security will come from insulation, efficiency, and renewables.’
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