In May 2021, in light of the world’s dangerous levels of global heating, the International Energy Agency called for an end to investment in fossil fuel development. By November 2021, six countries had signed up to a new coalition committed to ending oil and gas extraction.
Today, new polling finds that twice as many Britons would support the UK making this commitment as are opposed.
Thirty-eight per cent of people in Britain are in favour of the government banning all new oil and gas exploration in the UK, according to exclusive polling by Redfield & Wilton Strategies for the New Statesman. This figure includes 26 per cent who would “strongly support” such a move.
In contrast, just 19 per cent are in opposition, of which 7 per cent would “strongly oppose”, and 33 per cent say they neither support or oppose the ban.
The climate case for ending oil and gas extraction is clear. Last month, a paper published in the journal Nature quantified the amount of fossil fuels that should be left in the ground if the world is to stay within a “safe” 1.5°C of warming – and concluded that most planned fossil fuel projects can’t go ahead. More widely, the UN has warned that total global greenhouse gas emissions need to halve in the next eight years if the 1.5 limit is not to be breached.
In the UK, StopCambo campaigners have been pressing the government to withdraw permission for a proposed new oilfield off the coast of Shetland, citing its climate threat. On Friday (10 December), following the oil giant Shell’s withdrawal of its minority investment last week, the project’s developers said they were pausing the project. But while prospects for Cambo look shaky, the UK government has still not yet come out in opposition.
If the British government was to make a stand against all new oil and gas exploration, the international signal would arguably be considerable. When Denmark and Costa Rica launched the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance in September (adding France, Greenland, Ireland, Quebec, Sweden and Wales as members by November), they knew their emissions reduction potential was limited given that none of these countries are large oil and gas producers. The UK, in contrast, sneaks into the top 20 in the list of the world’s top oil-producing nations, and is at number 21 for gas.
Accepting the conclusions the science demands – and banning new oil and gas development – would be true climate leadership and show the UK was capable of more than just fine words.
[See also: “The polluter must pay”: why rich countries could be sued for destroying the climate]
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