Can opening new oil & gas fields be compatible with climate goals?
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Abstract:
There is a lively debate over the present UK government's policy to stop awarding new oil and gas exploration licenses, making the UK now the largest producer of the roughly 20 governments that have adopted such policies. Meanwhile, an environmental impact assessment has just been resubmitted for the controversial Rosebank field, following an earlier court ruling that it must consider the emissions that will occur when the oil is consumed. This seminar will aim to put these issues in context, by exploring the climate implications of new oil and gas fields in the UK, relative to the remaining carbon budget, and to pathways limiting warming to 1.5C.
Bio:
Greg Muttitt is Honorary Research Fellow at University College London (UCL), and recently co-authored the UCL report The Climate Implications of New Oil and Gas Fields in the UK – An overview of the evidence. His research focuses on the science and policy of transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner. He has worked on energy for nearly 30 years, and been published in peer-reviewed journals including Science, Nature Climate Change, Climate Policy, and Environmental Research Letters, in numerous reports, and in a book, Fuel on the Fire: Oil and politics in occupied Iraq. He was a lead author of UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report in 2023, and a co-author of the Production Gap Report in 2021. He is also Senior Associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and a consultant working with universities, thinktanks, foundations and others.