With thousands of UK-based oil and gas workers on furlough and the sector’s economic recovery likely to be slow, policymakers are facing calls to cap North Sea fossil fuel production and reskill communities for low-carbon industries. Think tank IPPR has today (3 December) published a new report detailing how UK business’s operations in the North Sea will need to change if the UK is to meet its 2050 net-zero target. The report states that some 260,000 jobs are linked to the oil and gas industries across the UK, with a high concentration in Scotland and the North of England in the offshore sector. Aberdeen is the area most directly dependent on the sector – more than 10% of jobs in the city and 5% in surrounding Aberdeenshire are related. The IPPR outlines how the sector has been one of the worst-affected by Covid-19, with demand for oil slumping in the UK and globally due to lockdown restrictions. In order to protect communities which rely on the industry – both from Covid-19 in the short-term and the net-zero transition – the IPPR recommends that the UK and Scottish governments collaborate to develop a ‘net-zero deal’. The deal should include time-bound, numerical targets for capping the production of fuels for use domestically and abroad. Changes to the “maximum economic recovery” law for oil and gas firms, to implement legally-binding caps, would add teeth to this target.
Edie 3rd Dec 2020 read more »
Guardian 3rd dec 2020 read more »
Times 3rd Dec 2020 read more »
Scotsman 3rd Dec 2020 read more »