Background
In January 2025, Greenpeace and Uplift won a legal challenge against Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields, with the Scottish Court of Session ruling the approvals granted by the industry regulator and Conservative Government unlawful as they had not taken into account ‘Scope 3’ emissions, emissions generated from burning the extracted fuels.
With Rosebank the UK’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field, SERA, climate experts and environmentalists celebrated this judgement as an historic win for climate action. It confirmed that all environmental impact assessments of oil and gas projects must include Scope 3 emissions as per the Supreme Court’s judgement in June 2024 (Finch v Surrey County Council), which ruled council consent for an oil well in Surrey unlawful on these grounds.
Although the consents for Rosebank and Jackdaw have been quashed, work on both fields has been allowed to continue but no oil and gas can be extracted unless new approvals are granted. The UK Government has issued revised environmental guidance for offshore oil and gas developers to take into account Scope 3 emissions, which owners Equinor and Ithaca Energy (Rosebank) and Shell (Jackdaw) are now using to prepare fresh applications.
As a result, Ed Miliband will soon face a momentous decision on the fate of these fields. With Labour’s Change manifesto only committing to not issuing new licences to explore new oil and gas fields, it is a decision that the Government states will be guided by the outcomes of the new assessments, while balancing other factors on a case-by-case basis, such as economic impact. There will be public consultations on both applications. SERA strongly advocates for the rejection of the new applications for Rosebank and Jackdaw. This is a view we have shared with the Secretary of State to show there is a strong, supportive movement behind this decision.
SERA’s position on Rosebank and Jackdaw:
- SERA welcomed the historic court ruling as a turning point for climate action
SERA welcomed the retrospective legal rejection of consents for Rosebank and Jackdaw as they had not considered the effects of ‘Scope 3’ emissions on the climate. By requiring the inclusion of these emissions in all environmental impact assessments, the full climate impacts of oil and gas production can now be properly assessed. This should be a turning point for national efforts to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement as it will be harder to overlook the impact of each oil and gas production licence on the UK’s carbon budget. For example, it is difficult to see how Rosebank can now be approved in view of its climate impact when its oil alone would generate up to 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide when burned, more than the combined annual emissions of 28 low-income countries.
SERA also supports the reasoning presented by the judge, Lord Ericht, in his decision on the Rosebank, which rightly put the interests of people first. The judgement stated that ‘The public interest in authorities acting lawfully and the private interest of members of the public in climate change outweigh the private interest of the developers’. It is critical that such reasoning should prevail when assessing the fresh applications for the fields.
- The economic case for Rosebank and Jackdaw is not in the interest of British people
The economic impact of Rosebank and Jackdaw will be considered by the Secretary of State when reaching a decision on their applications and central to this must be whether they are in the economic interest of British people. Since the vast majority of extracted oil and gas from both fields would be sold on the international market to the highest bidder, neither project would help reduce consumer energy costs or national energy security. Plans for Rosebank include transporting the oil (90% of the reserve) by tanker and selling it to the international market, while only some gas would be piped to Shetland. This is all while UK taxpayers would effectively provide 84% of the development costs of Rosebank with no return as most profits would flow to Norwegian-owned Equinor, which owns 80% of Rosebank, and to Norway’s wealth fund.
In addition, the claim that the fields will create thousands of UK jobs is overstated, with Equinor identifying just 255 UK-based jobs over the lifetime of Rosebank. To maximise profits, Equinor is constructing its main offshore vessel in Dubai, while unions say that the project has yet to create design or construction jobs for UK workers. This is the context of declining jobs in the industry in the UK, despite the approval of new oil and gas fields, with jobs more than halving in the last decade.
SERA fully supports the great strides that the Labour Government has made so far in its plans to reduce consumer energy costs, improve national energy security and grow long-term green jobs by setting up Great British Energy (GB Energy). Now is a critical time to further grow investment into GB Energy’s clean and home-grown energy to support the economic interests of British consumers, taxpayers and workers.
- The Labour Government must seize this opportunity to show its ongoing commitment to the green transition
The Labour Government has a significant opportunity to use its decision on Rosebank and Jackdaw as a powerful signal to voters, investors and its global partners that it is committed to the green transition. Rejecting Rosebank and Jackdaw shows voters who backed Labour’s clean energy mission in the 2024 election that Labour is committed to bringing down energy bills and delivering energy security. It also sends a message to young voters, anxious about their future, that Labour is serious about minimising climate harm.
A decision against Rosebank and Jackdaw would provide consistency in policy and the stability needed by investors who are ready to back the Government’s pledge to become a clean energy superpower. Conversely, approving Rosebank and Jackdaw risks the UK becoming a less attractive destination for renewable energy investment and increases competition between the oil and gas and renewable sectors for critical supply chains.
Finally, rejecting Rosebank and Jackdaw would demonstrate leadership across the globe and show our partners how they too can meet their international climate agreements. This international ‘signalling effect’ was acknowledged by the Climate Change Committee, while Rosebank and Jackdaw approvals would undermine the Government’s ability to continue its leadership role on climate. The Labour Government has an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of a just transition away from oil and gas to British people, investors and the world and it must seize it.