NEW figures from the oil and gas industry boasting of "significant progress" towards emissions reductions have been slammed as "spin" by the Scottish Greens.
The latest figures from industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) say that the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 28% since 2015, achieving its target to reduce emissions by 25% by 2027 four years ahead of schedule.
Offshore Energies UK is a trade body for the UK’s offshore energies industry, formerly called Oil and Gas UK, and represents hundreds of organisations with an interest in offshore oil, gas, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and offshore wind.
The report also showed the sector’s methane emissions dropped by 53% over the same period, achieving its 2030 target of halving methane emissions from oil and gas production seven years early.
Under the North Sea Transition Deal, the UK’s oil and gas industry is committed to reductions in emissions against a 2018 baseline of 10% by 2025, 25% by 2027, and 50% by 2030, with the aim of achieving net zero by 2050.
These targets relate specifically to “upstream” emissions from oil and gas production, and not to emissions generated by the burning of fossil fuels once they have entered use.
'It's like Donald Trump giving a lecture on ethics'
However, the report has been met with criticism from the Scottish Greens, who condemned the industry for “greenwashing” the extraction of North Sea oil and gas.
Patrick Harvie (below), the party's co-leader and net zero spokesperson, said: “The spin on this is gobsmacking. Having oil companies lecturing us on the climate feels like having Donald Trump lecture us on ethics.
“Global temperatures are rising at an alarming rate, and it is deeply hypocritical for Offshore Energies UK to claim environmental credentials while their members are supporting and profiting from the continued expansion of fossil fuels in the North Sea.
“Nothing could be more damaging to our common future than offering up even more of our North Sea to these oil and gas giants, but that is what OEUK and its members are lobbying for.
“Greenwashing won’t cut it. If OEUK really wants to see us making genuine progress towards decarbonising Scotland’s energy sector, then it is time for them to join the calls of the Scottish Greens and campaigners across the country for an end to climate-wrecking drilling in Jackdaw and Rosebank sites.”
Mark Wilson, operations director at OEUK, said: “We are pleased by the huge efforts made by the UK oil and gas industry and the supply chain to reduce emissions as we scale up new sources of renewable energy.
“Oil and gas will remain essential for decades to come. It is better from all points of view: financial, environmental and social, that energy comes from our own, homegrown North Sea supplies.
“The alternative is importing more of the oil and gas we still need. This can increase the carbon footprint by up to four times and lead to loss of UK revenue, endangering jobs as well as impacting our security of supply.
“The UK oil and gas industry remains committed to its emission reduction targets and has made significant progress, but supportive policies and new investment are essential to ensure the energy transition is achieved without compromising energy security.”
Meanwhile, Tessa Khan from advocacy group Uplift, which campaigns for a rapid and fair transition away from oil and gas production, said: “This is all smoke and mirrors. These short-term targets were so weak as to be almost impossible to miss.
“Look slightly further ahead and the industry is set to bust its future emission reduction targets, which are supposed to be guard rails to ensure the UK meets its climate plans.
“This is transparently part of the industry’s persuasion campaign to be allowed to continue drilling.
“It ignores the fact that the UK, having burned most of its reserves, now gets the majority of its gas imports from Norway, which banned flaring decades ago and whose gas is half as polluting as the UK’s.”
