I was proud to add my name to the below open letter to the rishi sunak (prime minister) and grant shapps (Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero), calling on the uk government to reject development of the proposed Rosebank oil field.

• Rosebank is the biggest undeveloped oil field on the British side in the North Sea. At nearly 500 million barrels, it is nearly 3 times the size of the Cambo oil field. Ninety percent of its reserves are oil, which are likely to be exported.

• Burning Rosebank’s oil and gas would create more than the combined annual CO2 emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries. In other words, the CO2 from this one UK field would be more than the 700 million people in the world’s poorest countries create in a year. These are the same countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis but which are already experiencing among the worst impacts of a warming planet.

• If approved, Rosebank will be developed by oil and gas giant Equinor, which is majority-owned by the Norwegian government and holds a 40% stake in the field. The UK public, however, would carry almost all the costs of developing Rosebank, its owners will receive over £500 million through the Investment Allowance subsidy to develop the field. In the long run, the transition away from fossil fuels risks leaving Rosebank a stranded asset.

#StopAllNewFields

February 21st 2023

Dear Prime Minister and Secretary of State,

In the face of the climate and energy price crisis, we are calling on you to reconsider the UK government's position on North Sea oil and gas extraction and reject the development of the Rosebank oil field which is seeking to be developed by the Norwegian firm Equinor.

The case for moving past oil and gas extraction has never been clearer. The war in Ukraine has resulted in gas prices reaching unimaginable highs. In the UK our reliance on gas for heating our poorly insulated homes and generating power has left families and British businesses even more vulnerable to escalating costs than our European neighbours.

However, granting new licences and approving new fields like Rosebank will not help support energy security, they will make the UK more dependent on expensive, high carbon gas for decades longer than necessary. Rosebank is 90% oil, most likely to be exported and will not lower energy costs in the UK.

As the UK seeks to secure its international climate commitments, and realise its ambition of protecting 30% of marine habitats by 2030, we urge you to consider the climate and nature impacts of Rosebank. As the largest undeveloped oil field in the UK, the emissions from burning the oil and gas in Rosebank would be equal to the combined annual CO2 emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries in the world. Further, Rosebank would cut through a Marine Protected Area, known for its delicate habitats.

If approved, Rosebank will be developed by Equinor, which is majority-owned by the Norwegian government. The UK public, however, would carry almost all the costs of developing Rosebank, its owners will receive over £500 million through the Investment Allowance subsidy to develop the field. In the long run, the transition away from fossil fuels risks leaving Rosebank a stranded asset.

With renewables currently many times cheaper than gas, every new field, every Rosebank, delays the transition to a more affordable renewable energy system. Done properly, with the right support and investment, there could be three jobs in clean energy for every oil and gas job at risk. With gas prices expected to remain high for potentially years to come, we urge you to instead invest in the quickest and safest ways to strengthen energy security and lower bills, not through further extraction of oil and gas, but greater energy efficiency and cheap home grown renewables.

Yours sincerely,

Individual Signatures

• Vanessa Nakate

• Ada Martini Strøm

• Aisling Bea

• Aurora

• Dr. Mya-Rose Craig

• Frankie Boyle

• Kristoffer Robin Haug, MP in The Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment, Norwegian Green Party

• Gail Bradbrook

• Gemma Styles

• Hunter Lovins

• Jessie Mei-Li

• Judy Ling Wong

• Laura Young

• Mikaela Loach

• Nadia Whittome, Member of Parliament for Nottingham East, UK Labour Party

• Nikolai Schirmer

• Silje Lundberg

Group Signatures

• 350.org

• 350.org Denmark

• Aberdeen Climate Action

• ActionAid Denmark

• Alianza Mexicana contra el Fracking

• AnsvarligFremtid - Denmark

• Anti-Oppression Circle

• ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change)

• Authentic House

• Awel Aman Tawe

• Badvertising 

• BankTrack

• Bergen County Green Party

• Besteforeldrenes klimaaksjon - The Norwegian Granparents Climate Campaign

• Biofuelwatch

• Black Environment Network 

• Black2Nature

• BP or not BP?

• Breathe

• CAFOD

• Camden CopWatch

• Campaign against Climate Change

• Carbon Copy

• Carbon Neutral Cambridge

• Caribbean Labour Solidarity 

• Climate 2025

• Climate Action Network UK (CAN-UK)

• Climate Cymru

• Climate Emergency Institute

• Climate Emergency UK

• Climate Vanguard 

• Climbers for Climate

• Coal Action Network

• Community Energy Wales | Ynni Cymunedol Cymru

• Corporate Europe Observatory

• Council of Canadians

• Croydon Climate Action

• Croydon Community Energy

• Culture Unstained

• Curv

• Dartford Animal Rescue Team

• Datblygiadau Egni Gwledig (DEG)

• Defund Climate Chaos 

• Divest Hackney

• Doctors for the environment

• Dundee and Angus Scottish Greens

• E3G

• Earthly Institute

• East Kent Climate Action

• Eco Action Families 

• Ecosocialist.scot

• Edinburgh Climate Coalition

• EEM Impact Ltd.

• Egni coop

• EKOenergy ecolabel

• End Ecocide 

• Energy Local CIC

• Epping Forest Climate Action

• Equity for a Green New Deal

• Extinction Rebellion

• Extinction Rebellion Brighton

• FairtradeLeeds

• Faith for the Climate

• Feminist Exchange Network, Glasgow

• Force of Nature 

• Fossil Free London

• Fossil Free Pride

• Fossil Free Southwark

• Fossil Free West Yorkshire

• Framtiden i våre hender

• Fridays for Future Scotland

• Friends of the Earth England Wales & Northern Ireland

• Friends of the Earth New Forest

• Friends of the Earth Norway (Naturvernforbundet)

• Friends of the Earth Scotland

• Fuel Poverty Action

• Genevieve Leavold Art

• Glasgow Against Arms and Fossil

• Global Justice Bradford

• Global Justice Edinburgh Youth

• Global Justice Now

• Global Witness

• Gower Street

• Green Christian

• Green New Deal Rising

• Green Squirrel CIC

• Greener Duns

• Greenpeace UK

• Greenpeace Norway

• Grønn Ungdom / Green Youth of Norway

• Grwp Resilience CBC

• Health 4 Green New Deal

• HERO UK Climate Justice Circle

• Icon Sustainability Network

• International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute

• Justice Institute Guyana

• Kanlungan Filipino Consortium

• Katharina Hellmann Coaching

• KCC Services Ltd

• Klimataktion

• Läkare för miljön, Skåne (doctors for the environment)

• Leaving a Legacy Ltd

• Liverpool Friends of the Earth

• LSE Divest

• Make My Money Matter

• Marine Conservation Society

• Medact 

• Health 4 Green New Deal

• Miljøpartiet De Grønne - Norwegian Green Party

• Mom Loves Taiwan Association

• Mothers Rise Up

• National Federation of Women's Institutes 

• Natur og Ungdom

• Natural Capitalism Solutions

• Nordic Ocean Watch

• North East Climate Justice Coalition

• Occupy Bergen County

• Oceana

• Oil Change International

• Operation Noah

• Out of Sink

• Oxfam Great Britain

• Parents for Future

• Parents for Future - West London

• Parents For Future Brighton 

• Parents For Future Dacorum

• Parents for Future Scotland 

• Parents for Future Stroud

• Personal Action Association

• Physiotherapy Declares

• Plastic Free Combe Down

• Platform London

• Possible

• Protect Our Winters UK 

• Quakers in Britain

• Race & Health

• Rapid Transition Alliance

• REAL Sustainability

• Recourse

• Revolutionary Reparations

• RSPB

• Scientist Rebellion Germany

• Scientists for Global Responsibility

• Sea Shepherd UK

• Seaford Environmental Alliance 

• SHE Changes Climate

• Sierra Club Canada Foundation

• Socialist Youth of Norway

• Specialist Autism Services Leeds

• Spillerommet - Network for Climate Conscious Artists

• Stamp Out Poverty

• Stand.earth

• Stop Cambo

• Stop Climate Chaos Scotland

• Stop EACOP UK

• Stopp oljeletinga

• Students for Global Health

• Surfers Against Sewage

• Surfers for Climate

• SurfNorge

• Sustainable Kirtlington

• Switch It Green

• Talking Circle London

• Tearfund

• Thanet Friends of the Earth 

• The Centre for African Entrepreneurship

• The Green Runners

• The Human Exploring Society 

• The Resilience Project

• The Wildlife Trusts

• Tipping Point UK

• Transport & Environment

• UEA Biodiversity and Climate Action Network

• UK Youth Climate Coaltion

• Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community

• United nations Association - Menai 

• Uplift

• War On Want

• Wen (Women's Environmental Network)

• West Wales Climate Coalition

• Wildlife & Countryside Link

• Wirral Climate Action Group

• Women on Wheels SCIO

• Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF UK)

• Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

• Worthing Climate Action Network 

• WWF-Norway

• XR Aberdeen

• XR Dacorum

• XR Doctors

• XR Edinburgh

• XR Leeds

• XR Netherlands

• XR Shrewsbury

• XR UEA

• XR Waltham Forest

• XR Worthing

• Young FOE Scotland

• Youth Christian Climate Network

Add your group's name to the open letter here.