If you’ve lost track of what exactly is happening with Jackdaw and Rosebank, you can probably be forgiven. Both North Sea oil and gas fields have now survived two governments, multiple legal challenges and a changing approvals process – and we’re still waiting to find out whether they will actually go ahead.
A quick recap. Jackdaw was approved by the Conservative government in June 2022, followed by Rosebank in September 2023. Greenpeace challenged both decisions in court, working with Uplift on Rosebank, on the fairly fundamental basis that you can’t decide whether a new oil or gas field is compatible with our climate commitments without considering the emissions created when that oil and gas is actually burned.
The Supreme Court agreed with that principle in the Finch case in June 2024. Following the general election, the Labour government then decided not to defend the previous government’s approvals of Jackdaw and Rosebank in court, and the approvals were subsequently ruled unlawful.
Since then, we’ve had new environmental guidance, a public consultation and another change at the top of government. The consultation has now closed and we’re waiting for the next decision on the future of the fields.
Which brings us to Andy Burnham and Miatta Fahnbulleh.
This will be one of the first big climate and energy tests for the new government, and it comes after another record-breaking summer. Miatta spoke this week about bringing bills down, ending the price volatility that comes with our reliance on fossil fuels and working with civil society to deliver change. The decision on Jackdaw and Rosebank is a pretty immediate opportunity to demonstrate what that means in practice.
Our view hasn’t changed: neither field should go ahead.
For all the industry’s promises about jobs and energy security, it’s worth asking who actually benefits. Jackdaw would create just 27 new direct full-time jobs, according to the developer’s own assessment. And the oil and gas produced won’t be reserved for British households at cheaper prices – it will be sold by private companies on international markets, at international prices.
Rosebank isn’t exactly providing a great advert for the alternative either. Production has already been pushed back after two pieces of drilling equipment, including a safety valve, were accidentally dropped 1,100 metres to the seabed.
So consumers don’t get cheaper energy. Workers don’t get the scale of secure, long-term jobs being promised. And more North Sea drilling doesn’t free us from volatile global fossil fuel prices.
The clearest beneficiary is the oil and gas industry itself.
North Sea workers and communities deserve a much better offer: serious investment in clean industries, secure jobs and a properly managed transition. The brutal and badly managed closure of Britain’s coal industry showed what happens when governments fail to plan properly for workers and communities. We shouldn’t repeat those mistakes.
So after four years of campaigning, court cases, consultations and political change, we’re back to a relatively simple choice: approve more oil and gas fields that take us further in the wrong direction, or start investing properly in what comes next.
We’ll be pushing Andy and Miatta to choose the latter.
Areeba