{"id":2016,"date":"2025-08-04T16:25:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T16:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urc.org.uk\/?p=60149"},"modified":"2025-08-04T16:25:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T16:25:51","slug":"urc-helps-petition-government-on-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/standrewsurcrustington.org.uk\/?p=2016","title":{"rendered":"URC helps petition government on climate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eighteen Christian organisations, including the United Reformed Church, have called on the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy Secruity and Net Zero, to abandon fossil fuels.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a joint letter, signed by Catriona Wheeler, URC General Assembly Moderator 2025-2026, the organisations express deep concern that \u201cfurther oil and gas extraction might be permitted by the government under its regulatory processes, despite the government\u2019s new guidance on oil and gas extraction requiring consideration of the environmental impacts\u201d.<\/p>\n

The groups who signed the letter also called for the climate leadership that was promised in Labour\u2019s manifesto and expressed particular alarm by the proposed Rosebank oil field which is incompatible with safe climate limits.<\/p>\n

The Revd James Grote, a Baptist minister, who attended the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to deliver the letter on 23 July, said: \u201cClimate change has now become today\u2019s emergency in Europe. If we are to continue to live in hope, we have to act now and move away from burning fossil fuels. This is our only hope for our one and only planet. Agreeing to the development of the Rosebank oil field would be a step closer to despair. The British government must give us hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January of this year, the previous government\u2019s approval of Rosebank <\/a>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\u2019s 28 poorest countries<\/a>. This was a significant legal win in the fight to end of fossil fuel production in the UK.<\/p>\n

In June, the government announced new rules for the process that governs oil and gas project approvals. With these new rules in place, Rosebank\u2019s lead developer \u2013 Norwegian oil giant Equinor \u2013 is expected to submit a new application to get Rosebank approved, this time including the calculation of its lifetime emissions.<\/p>\n

Over recent weeks, a number of open letters from ocean groups<\/a>, health institutions<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Read the letter in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Image: JPIT.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eighteen Christian organisations, including the United Reformed Church, have called on the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy Secruity and Net Zero, to abandon fossil fuels. In a joint letter, signed by Catriona Wheeler, URC General Assembly … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-2016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-urc-news","tag-urc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t