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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Green Oil?

by New Worker correspondent

Monday’s declaration by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to grant 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences received a predictably mixed reception. This he said was “entirely consistent with net-zero commitments”. This was a general commitment and to the industry and did not signal approval of any particular developments such as the Rosebank field west of Shetland. He added that Britain would always need oil and gas for about a quarter of its energy needs.

To sweeten what some saw as a bitter pill, at the same time he announced support for two more carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, in Aberdeenshire and the Humber.

The announcements were attacked by both Oxfam’s climate change policy advisor and Friends of the Earth. Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, said the Government needed to “focus on energy efficiency and the UK’s vast home-grown renewable resources, rather than championing more costly and dirty fossil fuels”, adding: “Even if it ever worked, which is unlikely in the near term, CCS won’t capture all the climate pollution caused by burning fossil fuels or address the significant emissions that are created when gas and oil is extracted.”

The response from opposition parties was somewhat mixed. For the SNP it was left to Westminster leader Stephen Flynn to welcome the carbon capture project, and he condemned the delay and the failure of earlier bids. Despite the SNP saying in March 2022 that it wanted to see the end of the industry, he did not actually condemn the likelihood of new fields being opened-up. After all, they do not want to be blamed for losing jobs. First Minister Yousaf took a slightly harsher line, saying that the decision showed the UK “is not serious about tackling climate change”. But that was all he had to say, and no other SNP figures piled in to demand an end of the industry.

Labour’s climate and net-zero spokesman Ed Miliband merely pointed out that: “Rishi Sunak’s weak and confused policy will not take a penny off bills – as his own party chair has admitted – will do nothing for our energy security, and drive a coach and horses through our climate commitments, while continuing to leave us at the mercy of fossil fuel dictators like Putin.” But he took care not to directly denounce opening-up new oil fields.

Unite the union welcomed the news that more oil and gas would be produced off Britain’s coast without actually saying so. General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “In the lead up to the general election, we’re going to see a lot of ‘jumping on the bandwag- on’ promises. The devil will be in the detail. We need to see long-term plans and well-paid roles with proper terms and conditions.” She added that: “We won’t tolerate the devastation of whole communities, with ‘leap of faith’ promises from Westminster all over again and we will not let workers in oil and gas become the miners of tomorrow.”

It does of course have many workers in the oil and gas industry and many more in related engineering industries.

Earlier in the month another energy union, Prospect, welcomed another Government measure to save the planet, also expressing scepticism about their ability or willingness to implement their declared policy. On this occasion Prospect cheered on the launch of Great Britain Nuclear, in particular its support for small modular reactor (SMR) technology, but it deplored the lack of mention larger-scale nu- clear power stations except Hinkley C and Sizewell C.

Senior Deputy General Secretary Sue Fern said: “The launch of Great British Nuclear is an important milestone in the government’s ambition to deliver the next generation of nuclear power and get us to net zero,” warning that: “The window for creating and protecting the skills we need for new nuclear is closing. If we miss this opportunity, then our commitment to net zero will be hot air.”

For many people, going green often means the proverbial green glow of the nuclear power plant.