Overview
If the world is to limit global warming to the 1.5 degrees goal of the Paris climate agreement, oil and gas extraction must decline significantly. But countries around the world are still planning to exploit a level of fossil fuel reserves that, when burnt, will see the world exceed two degrees of global warming.
Although the UK has committed to end the financing of fossil fuel projects overseas, this doesn’t apply for domestic oil and gas producers who still enjoy extensive tax breaks. Moving away from oil and gas extraction in the North Sea is important for the climate, but it also makes economic sense. This project aims to make the case for ambitious government action to support a phase down of domestic oil and gas production as we transition to new more resilient, clean industries and jobs.
Read our report:
“The North Sea is a mature basin with declining reserves and it’s vital the UK taxpayer is not left to carry the risk of stranded assets as we transition to net zero. As the former government energy minister who signed net zero into law, I think we need to look again at the tax regime oil and gas companies are operating under to see if the balance is right.”
