Queen ‘won’t trip up’ with speech during COP26 says Levin
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The report from the world’s energy watchdog released in May urged that further fossil fuel expansion anywhere will seriously impede global climate targets from being met. But this comes as the UK refused to rule out the chance of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. The Prime Minister has also considered signing off on a controversial project to drill at Cambo, an oil field to the west of Shetland. The scientists who signed the letter slammed Mr Johsnon for his interest in the project.
The letter says: “Approving the Cambo oil field off Shetland would be flatly inconsistent with the science.”
If the project gets approved, it would produce 170 million barrels of oil between 2025 and 2050.
But 70 international climate scientists have slammed Mr Johnson for his future plans
They urged that “bold political action” on eliminating fossil fuels as a source of energy should be taken, stressing an end to oil and gas investment is required.
This also comes as COP26 approaches, the climate summit to be held in Glasgow in two weeks’ time where world leaders will meet to discuss climate targets in the fight against the climate crisis.
The move also comes after Mr Johnson urged other world leaders to “grow up” and “recognise the scale of the challenge we face” with regard to the climate crisis in a speech to the United Nations general assembly in New York last month.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi are among a list of leaders who have not confirmed their attendance.
Their countries are also some of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases on the planet.
But the UK is also being urged to take more immediate action to face up to the task of battling climate change.
Dr James Hansen, a former NASA scientist known for his vocal role in urging climate change action, was one of a host of experts to sign the letter.
He said the UK needs to take urgent action in setting out a plan to phase out fossil fuels to low-carbon electricity sources like renewables and nuclear energy.
He told The Independent: “Boris Johnson could lead the world toward a bright future if he would announce such a plan or firm intentions to construct such a plan.
“Without such, Cop26 will be just like the prior Cops…where leaders promise to pursue goals for some period in the distant future.”
Dr Friederike Otto, one of the world’s leading experts in extreme weather science and an author of a recent landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said it was clear further fossil fuel investment would prevent Mr Johnson of hitting his net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
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The IPCC report issued a ‘code red’ for humanity and urgent immediate action must be taken on a global scale if we are to prevent a serious climate crisis from taking hold.
Dr Friederike Otto said: “Every tonne of carbon matters. It means higher global temperatures, more and hotter heatwaves and more lives and livelihoods lost.
“The worst aspect is that it’s the poor people in this and other countries who pay the price, including with their lives, for the government’s continued delay in climate action.
“This decision is increasing the inequity, getting us even further from climate justice.”
The letter has also called on the Government to end its policy of “maximising the economic recovery” of oil and gas in UK waters – and to ensure support is given to oil and gas workers looking to move into low-carbon industries.
The scientists pointed out that 60 percent of existing oil and gas reserves must not be extracted if the world is to come anywhere close enough to stopping global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5C, an international target set out in the Paris Agreement back in 2015.
But these calls come as the UK suffers from an energy crisis and shortages of fuel, and rising gas and electricity prices have promoted fears of energy poverty for the hardest hit.
It also comes after China suffered from major power outages affecting millions of people after Xi Jinping slapped down new energy restrictions that forced factories to shut.
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