Sturgeon calls on PM to reassess Cambo oil and gas plans

Nicola Sturgeon has written to Boris Johnson asking him to reassess oil and gas plans due to the “severity of the climate emergency”.

It includes the Cambo development off Shetland, which environmental campaigners have called to be halted.

In a letter, the First Minister said that such licences should be reassessed in light of the “severity of the climate emergency we now face”.

Sturgeon told the Prime Minister that the Scottish Government will be happy to engage further to ensure the review process is “credible and commands confidence”.

1. Oil & Gas supports thousands of jobs in Scotland so our transition away from fossil fuels must be a just one. But the climate emergency demands that it happens at pace. We cannot ignore the concern that drilling for new oil is not compatible with protecting the planet..
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 12, 2021

The First Minister also in her letter called for a UK four nations summit to ensure “global leadership” to ensure a just transition to net zero is demonstrated in the run-up to COP26 and beyond.

“Climate change is an inherently global issue and can only be addressed through co-ordinated international effort and working with others,” she wrote.

“Cop26 in Glasgow therefore represents the world’s best chance – perhaps our last chance – to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

“This weeks’ IPCC report could not be clearer – it is crucial that the international community takes this opportunity to significantly raise global climate action and ambition.”

She continued: “I am also asking that the UK Government agrees to reassess licenses already issued but where field development has not yet commenced. This would include the proposed Cambo development.

“Such licenses – some of them issued many years ago – should be reassessed in light of the severity of the climate emergency we now face, and against a robust Compatibility Checkpoint that is fully aligned with our climate targets and ambitions.

“The Scottish Government would be happy to engage further about exactly what this process should involve to ensure that it is credible and commands confidence.”

Scottish Labour’s net-zero, energy and transport spokesperson Monica Lennon called for the First Minister to “firmly and loudly” oppose the Cambo development.

She said: “Scottish Labour has been urging Nicola Sturgeon to get off the fence and oppose the Cambo oil field plans in the face of climate catastrophe.

“In the wake of growing pressure from grassroots campaigners, she has taken a baby step towards having a position. Now is not the time to ‘reassess’.

“It’s time for Nicola Sturgeon to firmly and loudly oppose Cambo, once and for all.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “The UK is the only G7 country to have agreed a landmark deal to support the oil and gas industry’s transition to green energy by 2050 while at the same time supporting 40,000 jobs.

“Even though demand for fossil fuels is falling and we continue to break records on our use of renewable energy, the advice of the independent Climate Change Committee is that we will continue to need oil and gas in the coming years as it is still vital to the production of many everyday essentials like medicines.

“We have already ended support for fossil fuels overseas, and are already designing a climate compatibility checkpoint which will ensure any future licenses will only be granted if they are aligned with the UK’s climate change objectives.”