Michelle ThompsonCampaigners claim that Conservatives are using climate action as a weapon and label Graham Stuart’s remarks as “laughable.”
The UK’s net zero minister told lawmakers that while oil and gas are “not the problem” for the environment, their carbon emissions are.
Graham Stuart stated that the demand for fossil fuels, not the supply of fossil fuels, was what was causing climate change, implying that the UK should continue to prioritize technology that absorb and store carbon dioxide.
His remarks represented a confident defense of the administration’s widely criticized position.
Stuart, who is scheduled to attend the UN climate meeting, Cop28, which kicks off later this month, stated, “I don’t think supply is the key driver—it is demand we need to focus on.” The future of oil and gas output will be scrutinized at this summit.
The government unveiled plans for new oil and gas licensing in the North Sea earlier this week in the king’s speech, plans that environmentalists and opposition parties claimed went against the UK’s climate ambitions.
In response to questions on Wednesday from the environmental audit committee of parliament, Stuart declared that the UK had “no problems” with climate policy and was leading the globe.
He told lawmakers, “If you really care about climate change, the UK is the last country you need to worry about.” “Encouraging others to follow us on the net zero pathway is the biggest challenge; we are not the problem.”
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the UK’s statutory advisers, has issued a warning, stating that the country is not on track to fulfill its net zero goals. Stuart countered that the CCC had identified areas where climate policy was getting better.
At the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt last year, a coalition of more than 80 countries—including the UK—called for the phaseout of fossil fuels. It is anticipated that these same countries will make the same demand at Cop28 in Dubai.
Stuart’s remarks to the committee, though, made many wonder if the UK would adopt a stance this year that was as firm.
“There is nothing fundamentally wrong with oil and gas; the problem is its emissions, and that is what we need to focus on,” he told the MPs.
Many advocates believe that focusing on emissions instead of fossil fuels is a diversion or a way to justify employing technology for carbon capture and storage, which is not currently and may never be deployed on a large scale.
“Thank goodness Graham Stuart has enlightened us that there are no fundamental problems with continuing to back oil and gas,” said Jamie Peters, climate coordinator at Friends of the Earth. “The world’s top scientists, the International Energy Agency, and the government’s own climate advisers have all strongly stated otherwise.”
Stuart’s comments were deemed “laughable” by Greenpeace UK political campaigner Ami McCarthy.
“This government is failing completely on both supply and demand,” they declared. It disbanded its own taskforce on energy efficiency, which had been set up to lower demand with projects like updating boilers and insulating our homes that leak heat.
“To place the blame on consumer demand—which this government has abandoned—is a new low for a Conservative party that is determined to use climate action as a weapon to foment division.”
The political lead for the advocacy organization Uplift, Robbie MacPherson, claimed that because the government was pushing the use of fossil fuels, it was not a global leader in the fight against climate change.
The world needs to unite at Cop28 to make headway on this issue, and he stated that “greenlighting fields like Rosebank tells the world that the UK cannot be trusted in phasing out fossil fuels.”
“The UK can and should once again lead the world in lowering emissions, but in order for that to happen, the government needs to quickly put an end to its political gas and oil play.”
Emily Martinez
