The Guardian view on new North Sea drilling: misreading the mood

The hottest month in world history has just ended. It is only days since the United Nations general secretary, António Guterres, warned that the era of global warming has now become the era of global boiling. Climate crisis haunts all nations without exception. The case for a redoubling of efforts to curb greenhouse gases could hardly be more stark than today.

So what kind of leadership does Britain’s prime minister offer in response to this crisis? Answer: he announces an expansion in drilling for the oil and gas that are driving the emissions that are transforming the world’s climate. In other words, while the planet burns, Rishi Sunak stands accused of pouring fuel on the flames.

Mr Sunak confirmed on Monday that the UK is to press ahead with a new phase of North Sea oil and gas exploration and production. “Hundreds” of licences will be granted in September and in subsequent rounds of licensing. The aim is explicit. Rather than winding down the industry and keeping the resources in the ground as part of the transition to the net zero target, Mr Sunak wants to max out production of the North Sea’s remaining reserves.

He claimed that the new drilling is needed because of the threat to energy supplies from Vladimir Putin and other tyrants. If so, that is an indictment of the shortsighted way in which the UK has managed its oil and gas, and the revenues from them, for decades. But the truth is also that Conservative governments have a history of casually reneging on climate commitments. “We’re not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business,” George Osborne sneered in 2011. Mr Sunak’s decision is in that vein. The new drilling is a mark of the low – not the high – priority that UK governments have given to Britain’s national needs.

The prime minister coupled his new licensing opportunities for oil companies with announcements of two more carbon capture usage and storage centres. These are partly designed to show that the government continues to treat its clean technology and net zero targets seriously. But these are marginal initiatives compared with the extended dependence on fossil fuels. They amount to letting energy companies off the hook and refusing to implement difficult decisions.

The bottom line message from Monday is straightforward. The Sunak government is easing up on its green commitments under pressure from the rightwing press and the party grassroots in the hope that this can revive Tory fortunes in the general election. It is part of the larger change in Conservative positioning since the party surprised itself by winning the Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection after campaigning against London’s cleaner air measures. But it is not an impulse decision.

The Tory party has been moving in an angrier and more libertarian direction for many years over many issues. The impatience with experts that Michael Gove expressed over Brexit was echoed during the Covid pandemic, and is recurring again over CO₂ emissions. Mr Sunak may say that the party remains committed to its cleaner car and net zero targets, but the reality is that these are now being mothballed until after a general election that may still be 15 months away. It is a terrible look and it is a terrible approach – not least because it underestimates the public, whose attitudes on these issues are often wiser than those of politicians.

cover photo:Rishi Sunak on a visit to Aberdeenshire on 31 July. ‘The Sunak government is easing up on its green commitments under pressure from the rightwing press and the party grassroots.’ Photograph: WPA/Getty