The UK’s former climate secretary says there should be “no more” oil and gas exploration and Scotland must start “turning off the taps”.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, spoke with journalists ahead of a trip to the COP26 summit in Glasgow on Friday.
The former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change said it will take “at least two decades” to transition away from fossil fuels but called for a halt to new projects.
It comes as Michael Matheson, the SNP’s energy secretary, revealed an independent Scotland would not stop drilling for oil and gas.
‘No more exploration’
Mr Davey told journalists there “should be no more exploration” of North Sea oil and gas – including the controversial Cambo oil development off the coast of Shetland.
He added: “I just don’t see the case for more exploration or on further new drilling.
“When you look at the world’s fossil fuels it’s three or four times as much as we can safely burn and remain within the 1.5 degrees.
“I do think we have to start turning off the taps, start beginning on that transition in a way I don’t think we’ve talked about before.
“We’re going to need oil and gas for quite a while yet but we’ve got to start that transition.”
Asked by the Press & Journal what this will mean for jobs in the north-east, Mr Davey said “people need not worry for the next 15-20 years”.
He said there “will be a lot of work” from existing oil and gas fields and decomissioning but that the main economic impact of the transition will “take some time”.
The Liberal Democrat leader added: “What I tried to do as secretary of state and I’ve been very disappointed the Conservatives have failed to take it on – and frankly the Scottish Government hasn’t done much either – is to really think through that transition with serious investment”.
“If we plan this right, we can maintain the well-paid jobs that have been core to the Aberdeen economy but they can transition.”
Carbon capture snub
Scotland was dealt a blow last month when the UK Government made the decision not to back pioneering new proposals for a carbon capture scheme in the north-east.
On Thursday, Nicola Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging him to reverse the UK Government’s decision not to back the Scottish Cluster’s bid, which includes the Acorn Project in Peterhead.
In a letter, she said the livelihoods of significant numbers of industry and oil and gas workers in Scotland are at stake.
In response to the move, Mr Davey said there is “great expertise, skills and academic depth in oil and gas”, which can be “applied very clearly to the challenges” of carbon capture and storage (CCS).
He added: “I think it’s absolutely crazy to exclude Scotland from the CCS story of the UK.”