Our response to the Oil and Gas Authority consultation on proposals to revise the MER UK Strategy

This response demonstrates why Maximising Economic Recovery (MER) of oil and gas is incompatible with meeting our climate objectives. The inclusion of “net zero” is an insufficient change from the previous Strategy to meet our international climate commitments.

The UK’s climate targets and approach to oil and gas extraction must be aligned with our Paris Agreement goals. We recommend that the commitment to MER be replaced by an objective to equitably managing the phase-out of UK oil and gas production and delivering a Just Transition, in line with the Paris goals, taking full account of emissions through the entire fossil fuel life cycle, from exploration to eventual use.