What is Rosebank?
Rosebank is a proposed oil and gas field, situated 80 miles off Shetland in the North Sea. It is the UK’s largest untapped reservoir of oil and is expected to produce 500 million barrels of oil. The CO2 produced is equivalent to that of the 28 lowest-income countries in the world - or 700 million people. The approval of Rosebank is a disastrous decision by the UK government for many reasons including putting marine life at risk including whales and dolphins, clams that live for hundreds of years, corals and the Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt and a pipeline will be laid through a Marine-Protected Area. Rosebank would also be the deepest field ever developed on the UK continental shelf because the oil lies over a kilometre under the surface. Excavating Rosebank comes at a high-cost, is dangerous and will pollute our planet.
Why #StopRosebank?
On 27th September 2023, the UK government gave the green light to Equinor - a Norwegian state-owned oil giant, to proceed with the Rosebank development. According to the BBC, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed the decision was made for “energy security” for future generations so that they won’t need to be “dependent on foreign dictators” and it will generate more job opportunities for UK citizens.
However, on 4th January 2024, The Guardian reported that “The UK government has admitted that oil from the controversial Rosebank field will be sold on the international market rather than to UK consumers.” The Labour MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, wrote a parliamentary question to the UK government about where the oil and gas will be used. The Government response? “It is not desirable to force private companies to ‘allocate’ oil and gas produced in the North Sea for domestic use”. This feedback proves that the oil produced from Rosebank is not going to help the UK households to save their energy bills or secure energy for future generations.
One of Stop Rosebank’s key arguments has been that 80% of the oil will be exported and that it will not help the UK’s energy security so it is great that this has finally been admitted by the government.
Worse still, the UK public would need to carry most of the costs for developing Rosebank, paying almost £3 billion in tax breaks to Rosebank’s developers, thanks to the UK government’s new energy subsidies policy. Furthermore Rosebank will derail the UK's 2050 net zero targets!
Connie Duxbury, the founder and CEO of Croydon Community Energy gives her points of view: “the Government has been extremely weak on allowing many anti-green policies and ideas through such as Rosebank, and has turned back on its word regarding net-zero policies. To me, the Government is only thinking short-term and not what's best for the planet and its people.
Croydon Community Energy is supporting the #StopRosebank campaign and court case because we know that our future can be powered by renewable energy and believe there is absolutely no reason for opening a new huge gas and oil field. We support a just transition which means bringing everyone along on the journey to a zero-carbon future and the battle against climate change, and opening new oil and gas fields in the name of greed does not support a just transition. We've experienced the recent energy crisis and seen how sensitive our markets are to fluctuations in oil and gas prices. The only way to become resilient is to produce our own renewable energy, develop more renewable energy investments and more renewable energy job opportunities will come along as well.
Stopping the Rosebank development will secure our planet, environment and most importantly our cost of living.
In December, the campaign group Uplift and Greenpeace UK filed separate legal challenges in Scotland against the UK government to seek termination for the development.
We encourage our followers to support the #StopRosebank campaign with us and other renewable energy companies, to fulfil the aim of “energy security” for our country and future generations.
The court case is backed by over 10,000 individuals and is supported by: 350.org, BankTrack, Culture Unstained, Environmental Justice Foundation, Extinction Rebellion, Friday for Future Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Fossil Free London, Fossil Free Parliament, Fuel Poverty Action, Global Witness, Green New Deal Rising, Greenpeace Norway, Grandparents Climate Campaign Norway, Laudato Si Movement, Lawyers are Responsible, MedAct, Mothers Rise Up, Oceana, Oil Change International, Parents for Future UK, Platform, Sierra Club Canada, Tipping Point, War on Want, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, World Cetacean Alliance.
On Monday 22nd January 2024, parliament is about to debate the controversial Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill and we need as many MPs there as possible to vote against new oil and gas expansion. The UK parliament must vote NOT to expand new oil and gas production during a climate crisis.
Please write to your MP here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/join-the-debate-on-new-oil-gas-licensing/ to ask them to attend the debate and speak out against this terrible legislation.
For more information can visit the #StopCambo website: https://www.stopcambo.org.uk/
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