Jackdaw gasfield approval fits net-zero plan, says UK PM Andy Burnham

The UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, has defended the decision to approve gas production at the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, saying it is part of a plan to make the net-zero transition work for Britain. In a comment article for The Guardian, he said the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, gave the go-ahead on Wednesday after years of fierce debate.

Burnham said gas from the field would begin heating homes and powering businesses this winter. He said it would raise domestic gas production by about 6%, support the UK's energy supply for more than a decade, protect hundreds of jobs in Scotland and add almost £3bn to the UK economy over the project's lifetime. Imported gas, he argued, has a higher carbon footprint than gas produced at home.

Net zero 'a process, not a moment'

Burnham said his determination to address the climate crisis was unwavering, and that even while pursuing net zero by 2050, the country would need oil and gas for years to come as a bridge to clean energy. He said Labour's manifesto committed the party to issuing no new licences to explore new fields in the North Sea and to reaching net zero by 2050, and that he stands by both promises.

He said Britain had just emerged from its hottest summer on record, during which nurses collapsed on hospital wards, bus drivers worked in intolerable conditions and families lost everything to wildfires. More extreme weather is forecast in the months ahead, he added, describing the climate crisis as a threat already affecting people's lives and livelihoods.

A £2bn energy wealth fund

Alongside the Jackdaw decision, Burnham said the government is establishing an energy wealth fund, beginning with an initial £2bn, to convert future North Sea oil and gas tax revenues into clean-energy programmes across the country. He said the aim is to substantially delink gas and electricity prices by the end of this parliament and bring down bills in the long term.

On household costs, he said one of his first acts as prime minister was to remove VAT from electricity bills, a reduction households saw this month. He added that he has asked the chancellor and the energy secretary to look at removing standing charges from gas bills at the earliest opportunity.

Burnham said oil and gas workers had powered the nation for decades and would continue to play a key role, and that he had promised the Scottish people to reindustrialise their nation. He described the transition to clean energy as the best chance of achieving that.

He contrasted what he called the traditional Whitehall approach, in which people carry the burden of change while others take the rewards, with a transition that creates good jobs, backs British industry and strengthens energy security, saying the government chooses the second path.

Source: The Guardian.