At lunchtime today a letter on behalf of 18 Christian organisations and denominations – including the Baptist Union, United Reformed Church and Methodist Church – was delivered to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The letter urged the abandonment of fossil fuels and expressed deep concern that further oil and gas extraction might be permitted by the government under its regulatory processes, despite the government’s new guidance on oil and gas extraction requiring consideration of the environmental impacts.
The groups signing the letter said they were particularly alarmed by the proposed Rosebank oil field which was incompatible with safe climate limits. The letter draws on the words of the late Pope Francis
“Now is the time for new courage in abandoning fossil fuels to accelerate the development of zero-or positive-impact sources of energy.”
– Pope Francis
and concludes, ‘As concerned faith groups, we are calling on the government to reject Rosebank as a key opportunity to show the courage that the late Pope Francis calls for and the climate leadership that you promised in your own manifesto.’
In January of this year, the previous government’s approval of Rosebank was overturned in the courts, primarily on the grounds that the developers did not account for the emissions that would be created by the inevitable burning of the huge quantities of oil and gas that would be produced by the Rosebank field over its lifetime. These emissions are so large, that they are larger than the combined emissions of the world’s 28 poorest countries. This was a significant legal win in the fight to end of fossil fuel production in the UK.
In June the government announced new rules for the process that governs oil and gas project approvals. With these new rules in place, Rosebank’s lead developer – Norwegian oil giant Equinor – is expected to submit a new application to get Rosebank approved, this time including the calculation of its lifetime emissions.
Over recent weeks a number of open letters from ocean groups, health institutions, Scottish groups, grassroots communities, parent voices and now Christian groups, have been sent to the Government expressing opposition to the exploitation of the Rosebank field, demonstrating a strong consensus across society that the project must not be given permission to proceed.
JPIT’s Constituency Action Network Intern Florence Wright was amongst those who delivered the letter to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. Watch this space for her reflections on the hand-in.
Photo credit: Angela Christofilou