August 27, 2026

If Rosebank / Jackdaw licences are granted, how can the UK still meet its climate commitments?

A final regulatory approval decision on the Jackdaw gas field and Rosebank oil field is expected in the coming weeks from the energy and net zero secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.

The UK is committed in law to achieving net zero by 2050, and Jackdaw/Rosebank are held up as exactly the kinds of projects that must be rejected if the UK is to have any hope of meeting its targets.  But the government might yet award licences to one or both fields.

Profs Myles Allen, Jo House and Pete Smith are climate scientists and co-signatories of an open letter to be sent to the energy secretary this week.  They will argue that any decision to further license oil and gas development would set back UK climate leadership; but that if government approval is to be granted, strong and legally-binding conditions must be in place.  They say that any licences granted must have storage obligations attached – in other words, any company extracting the fuel must also be legally responsible for carbon dioxide clean-up.  Only in this way, the scientists argue, can carbon storage be developed in time to meet the carbon budgets set under the Climate Change Act 2008.

Journalists came to this online briefing to hear them make their points and put your questions and challenges to them.

The letter was put in the public domain at the time of the briefing. 

Speakers included:

Prof Myles Allen FRS, Head of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford

Prof Jo House, Reader in Environmental Science and Policy, University of Bristol

Prof Pete Smith FRS, Professor of Soils & Global Change, University of Aberdeen

This Briefing was accompanied by an SMC Roundup of comments.