Tories left red faced by FoES report
Scottish Conservatives have been embarrassed by a report from Friends of the Earth Scotland and Oil Change International which shows that the investment, licensing, and development of new oil and gas fields - including the Cambo oil field - contradicts guidance from IPCC and IEA.
The report highlights that since declaring a climate emergency in 2019, the UK has opened new reserves totalling 800 million extra barrels of oil and gas.
The report on the devastating impact of expanding oil and gas extraction has been published on the same day the Scottish Conservatives bring a motion to the Scottish Parliament calling for more exploration for new oil fields.
Commenting, Scottish Greens climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: “This report from Friends of the Earth is timely, as it comes just weeks before Scotland hosts the COP26 climate summit. But it also comes as a welcome reminder to the Scottish Conservatives that their energy policy is stuck in the 1970s.
“This report underlines exactly what global science, the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and many nations have already acknowledged – that we cannot continue to expand oil and gas extraction in a climate emergency. Instead of providing a sustainable future and alternative jobs for communities, the Scottish Tories would rather call this overwhelming evidence ‘extremism’.
“We already have more oil and gas in current production than we can safely burn to keep to our climate commitments. The Scottish Greens are clear there can be no more expansion, starting with scrapping the Cambo oil field.”