Late last year the UK government launched a consultation for their climate compatibility checkpoint - a new measure they claim will ensure that any new oil and gas licenses are only awarded if they align with the UK’s climate objectives.
The proposed checkpoint is a series of six tests that would be applied to any new licences the government grants to determine if a new field is in line with the UK’s climate commitments. The consultation on the checkpoint is currently open and will run until February 28th. The climate checkpoint is a dangerous waste of time and something we should oppose as strongly as we can. Here's why:
A genuine ‘climate compatibility’ test would see the government stop handing out new oil and gas licences today. The government already knows that any new investment in fossil fuels would be incompatible with a liveable climate. A report that the UK commissioned from the International Energy Agency was clear: we can have no new oil and gas developments if we are to reach net zero by 2050.
For a safe climate and even a 50% chance of limiting warming to 1.5C, we need to stop all new oil, gas and coal projects. The checkpoint is an exercise in defending the indefensible.
As flawed as the checkpoint is, it would NOT apply to any fields that are already licensed, like Cambo or the other 29 offshore oil and gas projects in the pipeline that will seek government approval before 2025. As things stand, these projects face no such ‘climate test’.
The UK government should reject the 30 oil and gas fields that already have licenses but haven't been built yet, not create excuses to give out new ones.
The current proposals for the checkpoint already have the industry’s fingerprints all over them. If the industry gets what it wants, the government will continue handing out new oil and gas licenses, but they’ll just carry a sticker saying ‘climate compatible’. It’s greenwashing. The checkpoint will be weak and used to legitimise new oil and gas fields in a climate crisis. This is government rolling over for the oil and gas industry – an industry that is earning record profits while UK households face huge hikes in energy bills.
The best way to reduce our energy bills is to get off gas and invest in cleaner, cheaper renewable energy. But fossil fuel companies want to keep profiting from oil and gas. They’d like to lock us into using their expensive, polluting product for decades. The checkpoint isn’t a plan to tackle the climate crisis, it’s a delaying tactic.
Each new field delays a just transition for oil and gas workers and the development of a homegrown, renewable energy system. On average, it takes 28 years for an oil field to go from receiving a license to producing oil. Any licences awarded this year likely won't result in oil or gas coming online until 2050 - the same year we're supposed to be net zero. We need a credible plan for workers and a just transition to renewable energy - not the Government’s greenwashing checkpoint.
Together we will fight back against this checkpoint.
More on that soon.
- Stop Cambo
