UK government ministers have been urged to halt “climate-wrecking” development plans for a new oilfield in the North Sea.
Rosebank, located northwest of Shetland, is thought to be twice the size of the controversial Cambo development, and could produce almost 70,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak.
Equinor, a Norwegian state- controlled company, has submitted proposals to Westminster to begin production. Industry experts previously said the plans would boost energy security and the Scottish economy.
But the Scottish Greens have joined environmental groups in calling for the plans to be rejected, arguing it could hinder efforts to meet net-zero targets.
Mark Ruskell, the party’s energy and environment spokesman, said: “Rosebank is a climate disaster waiting to happen. We are already past the point when we should have been moving away from oil and gas, yet Westminster is doubling down on it.”
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He added: “Renewable energy is the cheapest and cleanest energy available. But we cannot realise our renewable potential as long as we are tied to a Tory government that is more concerned with the profits of its friends in the fossil-fuel industry than it is with our environment.”
Equinor has said a final investment decision could be made this year.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, was urged by campaigners during the UN Cop27 climate talks last year to oppose the plans. The Scottish government does not have powers to deny permission for development of oilfields.
Equinor said it aimed to operate projects such as Rosebank with the lowest-possible carbon footprint.
A UK government spokesman said: “No decision has yet been made regarding the proposed Rosebank field and development proposals for oilfields under existing licences are a matter for the regulators.”
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•Tens of thousands of rural households in Scotland could face energy costs of more than £30,000 to meet the new standards set by ministers.
The Scottish government wants households living in off-grid properties to comply with “new zero-emissions heat” rules by 2025. Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, wants these households to install environmentally friendly options such as heat pumps. But in response to a parliamentary question, he admitted about 40,000 countryside homes were not suitable for air source heat pumps.
