NO MORE NORTH SEA DRILLING

The climate doesn’t care about what pleases the fossil fuel industry or is perceived as politically palatable. It cares about the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

Today I, and other UK climate scientists, sent an open letter to the Energy Secretary, Miatta. Fahnbulleh, asking her to take serious note of the science when making a decision about the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil fields. The letter and list of signatories follows.

Dear Secretary of State,

As climate scientists, we write to you at this crucial moment to urge you not to forget the scientific evidence when you make your decisions about the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields.

We do not have the vast sums of money the fossil fuel industry uses to orchestrate both effective lobbying and the media narratives that have delayed climate mitigation for decades. The contest for politicians’ and public attention is heavily stacked in the favour of the fossil fuel industry.

But atmospheric physics doesn’t care about what pleases the industry or is perceived as politically palatable. It cares about the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We have already burned far too much, and this has made extreme heat, fires, floods and failed harvests more frequent and more deadly. We know that burning more fossil fuels will accelerate already-severe and escalating threats to life. There is nothing pragmatic about enabling this to continue into the decades ahead.

Climate scientists - echoed by the United Nations, International Energy Agency and many others - have repeatedly cautioned that new fossil fuels are not compatible with limiting global heating and thus protecting the lives of billions of people and countless other species. Meanwhile our colleagues in the energy sector have demonstrated affordable and achievable pathways to evolve beyond fossil fuels.

Amidst a summer of devastating wildfires, we welcomed the Foreign Secretary’s recent statement affirming the government’s stated commitment to leading a green transition. But pledges must be matched with genuinely transformative action, and new oil and gas development is not compatible with this. What we do here in one of the world’s wealthiest countries - one which takes pride in our science and our global influence - really matters.

The climate crisis is evolving at a rapid and accelerating pace, yet scientists’ warnings are increasingly drowned out. Against a backdrop of lost lives, shattered livelihoods and ecosystems disappearing in smoke - a stark reminder of the consequences of climate change - we sincerely hope that our plea will be heard.

Yours sincerely,

Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus of Geophysical & Climate Hazards, University College London

​​Ken Carslaw FRS, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Leeds

Friederike Otto, Professor of Climate Science, Imperial College London

Joanna Haigh, Professor Emerita of Atmospheric Physics, Imperial College London

Gail Whiteman, Hoffmann Impact Professor for Accelerating Action on Nature & Climate, University of Exeter

Benjamin Sovacool, Professor of Earth and Environment, Boston University; Professor of Energy Policy, University of Sussex

Pete Smith FRS, FRSE, Professor of Soils and Global Change, University of Aberdeen

Peter Cox CBE, Professor of Climate System Dynamics, University of Exeter

Richard Pancost, Professor of Biogeochemistry, University of Bristol

Hayley Fowler FRS, Professor of Climate Change Impacts and Director of the Centre of Climate and Environmental Resilience, Newcastle University

Prof Ralf Toumi, Director, Grantham Institute, Imperial College London

Richard Allan, Professor of Climate Science, University of Reading

Keith Shine FRS, Emeritus Regius Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, University of Reading

Stephan Harrison, Professor of Climate and Environmental Change, Exeter University

Neil Arnold, Professor of Glaciology, University of Cambridge

Pier Luigi Vidale, Professor of Climate System Science, University of Reading, UK

Raymond Pierrehumbert FRS, Professor of Planetary Physics, University of Oxford

Neil Adger, Professor of Geography, University of Exeter

Hannah Cloke, Regius Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, University of Reading

Ian Willis, Professor of Glaciology, University of Cambridge

Roland Gehrels, Professor of Physical Geography, University of York

Paul Valdes, Professor, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol

Lorraine Whitmarsh, Professor of Environmental Psychology, University of Bath

Dave Reay, Emeritus Professor of Carbon Management & Education, University of Edinburgh

Roger Few, Professorial Research Fellow in Environment, Risk and Development, University of East Anglia

Chris Thomas FRS, Professor of Biology, University of York

Lisa Emberson, Professor in Environmental Science, University of York

Rosemary Green, Professor of Environment, Food and Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Declan Conway, Professorial Research Fellow, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science

David Thomas, Professor of Geography, University of Oxford

Christopher Merchant, Professor of Ocean and Earth Observation, University of Reading

James Dyke, Associate Professor of Earth System Science, Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter

Rachel James, Associate Professor in Climate Science, University of Bristol

Rebecca Dell, Assistant Professor in Polar Studies, University of Cambridge

Mark New, Visiting Professor, University of Bristol