First Minister Signals Opposition to Cambo Oil Field
Reacting to the First Minister’s comments in Holyrood today, Friends of the Earth Scotland Head of Campaigns Mary Church said:
“We welcome the First Minister’s acknowledgement that there is no credible climate test that the Cambo oil field could ever pass. This is an important progression of the Scottish Government’s position, which must now translate into clear opposition to all new fossil fuel projects.
“When you’re in a hole, you have to stop digging. To meet the 1.5C goal, we need to keep all fossil fuels safe in the ground.
“It’s time to turn rhetoric on just transition into action that ensures that people and communities working in oil and gas are at the heart of planning a fair and fast phase out, whilst scaling up renewable energy to help create decent green jobs.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
The First Ministers comments were made in response to a question from Monica Lennon MSP in Holyrood this afternoon. The First Minister said:
- “I’ve made my position very clear. I don’t think we can go extracting new oil and gas forever. That’s why we’ve moved away from the policy of maximum economy recovery and I don’t think we can go and continue to give the go ahead to new oil fields, so I don’t think that Cambo should get the green light. I am not the one taking that decision so I’ve set out a proposal for a climate assessment and I think the presumption would be that Cambo couldn’t and wouldn’t pass any rigorous climate assessment.” https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/meeting-of-the-parliament-november-16-2021?clip_start=16:53:30&clip_end=16:54:43
Scottish Government press release, 25 October, in which the First Minister pledged the Scottish Government will ‘no longer support unlimited recovery of hydrocarbons including oil and gas’ https://www.gov.scot/news/unlimited-recovery-of-hydrocarbons-not-sustainable/
Friends of the Earth Scotland’s work to demand a just transition for communities and people who work in the oil and gas https://foe.scot/campaign/just-transition/
Friends of the Earth Scotland is:
* Scotland’s leading environmental campaigning organisation
* An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland
* Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 73 national member groups, and 5,000 local activist groups.