The Role of the Scottish Government in the Phase Out of Oil & Gas
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified this decade as our last chance to make the “rapid and deep emissions reductions” required to limit warming to 1.5ºC. At the same time, our current energy system, which is delivering billions in profits to oil and gas companies every year, is pushing millions of people in Scotland into fuel poverty. This means that a rapid, yet just, transition away from fossil fuels to clean, affordable, renewable energy is an urgent necessity.
In order to turn rhetoric on climate leadership into action, the Scottish Government must:
- Ensure the new Energy Strategy charts a clear path away from our broken fossil fuel energy system, to a climate-safe future with clean, affordable renewable energy for all.
- Set an end date for phasing out oil and gas production within this decade, and advocate for the UK Government to adopt a similar policy.
- Call on the UK Government to cancel all future licensing rounds for oil and gas in the North Sea, and revoke licences for undeveloped oil and gas fields.
- Reject plans for a new gas power station at Peterhead, and any new infrastructure that would prolong the use of fossil fuels in the energy system.
- Adopt a position of no support for onshore oil and gas fuel extraction, and revoke existing licences.
- Join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance as an Associate Member.