British taxpayers are aiding fossil fuels through subsidies. In the face of this knowledge, the people urge Boris Johnson to shift the government’s tax breaks for oil and gas firms towards supporting renewable energy instead. A newly released YouGov/Global Witness poll found that 65% (two in three) of the UK population want the transition to occur, and only 7% (one in ten) don’t.
Furthermore, 67% want the UK to be seen as a world leader on climate change. The majority vote stands across all regions, age groups, genders, and political parties.
Ken Penton, a Global Witness UK climate campaigner, said:
Off the back of a period of great political upheaval in the UK, with sharp divides, it’s welcome news that protecting the climate is one issue that unites everyone. The simple fact is you can’t be a global climate leader if you plan to carry on maximizing the amount of oil and gas you produce, rather than support the growth of the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries.
Since 2016, the UK has maintained a legally binding policy – the Maximizing Economic Recovery (MER) – that compels the Oil and Gas Authority to do whatever necessary to ensure that as much oil is recovered from under UK waters as economically possible. The policy was part of the previous Cameron government. The YouGov poll found that three-quarters of the Scottish public had no idea about the MER.
Climate change campaigners argue that the policy is incompatible with the new government’s commitments to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. So, the Johnson government has launched a review of the oil and gas licensing regime. A tax perks system for the gas and petrol industries isn’t going to help meet climate targets.
Shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead stressed how the polling underlines the public’s compliance that the current strategy needed to change. He said:
Labor has made clear the government’s MER strategy for oil and gas is untenable as it stands, and inconsistent with the ambition to meet net-zero emissions. We must focus instead on a just transition to a decarbonized energy sector, which recognizes the different role oil and gas will play in the future industry, and that creates high-skilled, green jobs.
Last year an EU report found that £10bn was spent supporting the oil and gas industry, while only £9bn for renewable energy. However, the department of business, energy, and industrial strategy (BEIS) refuses to call the current tax breaks for fossil fuels “subsidies.”
A BEIS representative said:
We want to ensure the UK has the most ambitious environmental program of any country on earth, and we have already cut emissions by 43% since 1990 and were the first major economy to commit to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. We will continue our global leadership on tackling climate change by hosting the next UN climate conference COP26 in 2021.
The UK does not have any fossil fuel subsidies, and we are exploring how to make the gas network cleaner through the Green Gas Levy and have just announced plans for even more of our electricity will be provided by clean, green wind power.
The UK is set to host the next round of global climate change talks next year in Glasgow. It has also signed up to a G20 summit commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies worldwide that encourage wasteful consumption.
Penton said:
As the host of the UN Conference of Parties (COP) conference in 2021, the UK would be judged not on its rhetoric but on action on curbing the oil and gas industry. This starts with scrapping the MER policy that dictates the UK explore for and extract as much oil and gas as is economically viable. If the UK is to meet its climate obligations, it cannot dig for any further fossil fuels beyond what is already in existing operational fields.
Furthermore, Boris Johnson gave a speech this month at the Conservative party conference. He pledged to substantially boost offshore wind energy during his talk, promising that the renewable would power every home in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales by 2030.
