Reaction to Nicola Sturgeon's letter about oil and gas licences

"This is a welcome call from the First Minister who is right to stress the urgent need to reassess existing fossil fuel licences, including the Cambo project. She should now go further and make clear her opposition to this project, and the Prime Minister should urgently review and reverse this drilling licence and accelerate plans for a just transition.

"Drilling for new oil as the climate emergency pushes millions of people deeper into hunger and poverty is clearly incompatible and wrong. Given the dire predictions in the UN report this week and the Secretary-General's comment that this must mark the 'death knell' for fossil fuels, this is the time to wind down oil extraction in Scotland and beyond.

"With just 80 days left until crucial COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, the UK and Scottish governments should make a clear commitment to a speedy and just transition away from fossil fuels."

Ends

Notes to editors:

The Cambo oilfield could produce up to 255 million barrels of oil over its lifetime, releasing an estimated 132 million tonnes of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, according to Oxfam’s analysis https://oxfamapps.org/scotland/2021/08/03/removing-emissions-created-by-cambo-oilfield-would-require-landmass-1-5-times-the-size-of-scotland-oxfam/

Commenting on this week's IPCC Working Group 1 Report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet." https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/secretary-generals-statement-the-ipcc-working-group-1-report-the-physical-science-basis-of-the-sixth-assessment