Rosebank is climate vandalism
It is time for the Scottish Government to come off the fence on fossil fuels and join climate experts and campaigners in opposing the climate-wrecking Rosebank plan, say the Scottish Greens.
The party will use an opposition debate on Wednesday to oppose the proposed development.
At nearly 500 million barrels, Rosebank is the biggest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea. In January the Court of Session ruled against the controversial proposals.
Fossil fuel giant Equinor has submitted a new application, in which they’ve had to admit that the proposed Rosebank oil field will be 50 times more polluting than what they first claimed, with 250 million new tonnes of carbon emissions.
The plans were opposed by Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf when they were First Ministers, but since John Swinney took office the SNP position has softened and they have retreated from this.
The Scottish Greens climate spokesperson, Patrick Harvie MSP, said:
“If Rosebank is given the go-ahead it will be catastrophic for our climate and our future.
“The SNP has hidden behind the idea of a so-called climate compatibility test, but this project is clearly incompatible with any test worthy of the name.
“There is no safe level of new drilling and no way to produce an extra 250 million tonnes of carbon emissions without doing severe damage to the world around us.
“When Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf took a stand against these climate-wrecking proposals it sent a clear message to the world, yet as the crisis worsens this Scottish Government is in retreat.
“Even Equinor’s own analysis shows that what they are proposing is straightforward climate vandalism, and I hope that our parliament will stand against it.”
Patrick added:
“Clean, green renewable energy is the best, safest and cheapest energy available. Scotland has a vast renewables potential, with the chance to create tens of thousands of high quality jobs for the future and ending our dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices.
“Scotland already has the skilled workers and resources to be a climate leader. All that is missing is the political will to actually do it."