Today’s approval to extract oil from the UK’s largest undeveloped field could be heading for the courts.

The campaign group, Uplift, said a legal challenge could be mounted against government backing for the Rosebank oil field off Shetland.

Uplift’s executive director and founder, Tessa Khan, said:

“There are strong grounds to believe that the way this government has come to this decision in unlawful.

“We shouldn’t have to fight this government for cheap, clean energy and a liveable climate but we will.”

She said:

“Despite being legally required to promptly publish the reasoning behind a decision to approve an oil and gas field, all we’ve received from the government about the approval of Rosebank is…a press release. What does the government have to hide?”

Ms Khan said key questions remained unanswered:

• How has the government assessed the impact of Rosebank against its legally binding carbon budgets?
• How has the NSTA assessed the impact of the field against its emissions reduction targets?
• Has the government taken into account the impacts of the massive emissions that will be released?

She described the lack of transparency as “potentially unlawful”.

“The failure to share this information promptly, as required by law, undermines our ability to understand and assess the lawfulness of the decision. At the very least, the government should get that right.”

Today’s announcement was the second in a week with implications for the UK’s climate policy that was made while parliament was in recess.

On 20 September, the prime minister announced delays to net zero targets, dividing his party and uniting industry and environmental campaigners.

The news came in a statement this morning from the NTSA:

“The North Sea Transition Authority has today granted development and production consent for the Rosebank field, north-west of Shetland.

“The consent has been given by the oil and gas regulator to owners Equinor and Ithaca Energy, following the acceptance of the Environmental Statement.”

An NSTA spokesperson said:

“We have today approved the Rosebank field development plan, which allows the owners to proceed with their project,” the North Sea Transition Authority.

“The FDP is awarded in accordance with our published guidance and taking net zero considerations into account throughout the project’s lifecycle.”

The field has been estimated to contain 300-500 million barrels of oil, much of it likely to be exported for sale on the international market.

Ithaca Energy and Equinor have said the field could start producing in 2026-2027. It could support around 450 long-term jobs, they have said.

It has been estimated that annual emissions from burning all the oil and gas from Rosebank would equal annual emissions of at least 28 countries.

Dr Simon Evans, a climate analyst with CarbonBrief, said:

“Burning all its production – some 300m+ barrels of oil & gas – would be equivalent to the annual emissions of around 90 countries and 400m people.”

“Act of war against life on earth”

Reaction to the announcement from climate campaigners was swift and angry.

The naturalist and presenter, Chris Packham, said:

“This is no less than an act of war against life on earth…”

Hannah Martin, co director at Green New Deal Rising and previously climate campaigner at Greenpeace

“Approving the Rosebank oil field will be looked upon as one of the greatest Government failures of this decade. It does nothing for energy security as most will be imports and shatters our climate targets. But it’s not over yet. We must keep fighting to Stop Rosebank.”

Campaigners have estimated that Equinor, which is majority-owned by the Norwegian government, could receive more than £3.75 billion in tax breaks from the UK government because of a loophole in the windfall tax.

Friends of the Earth’s climate campaigner, Danny Gross, said:

“This is yet another colossal failure of leadership from a government that seems determined to ignore the scientific warnings on the climate crisis.

“Giving the green light to Rosebank will send UK emissions soaring while failing to boost energy security or reduce bills.

“The main beneficiaries of this decision will be the fossil fuel firms who have been raking in bumper profits thanks to outrageous tax-breaks and our reliance on costly gas and oil – while cash-strapped households are left to pay the price. 

“The government should be investing in real solutions to the challenges we face by prioritising homegrown renewables and developing a nationwide insulation programme – not pouring more gas and oil on a burning planet.”

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

“Giving the green light to this huge new oil field is morally obscene. This Government must be held accountable for its complicity in this climate crime. 

“Amidst a summer of raging wildfires and the hottest July on record, this Government approves the biggest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea – set to produce more than the combined CO2 emissions of all 28 low-income countries in the world.

“Energy security and cheaper bills aren’t delivered by allowing highly-subsidised, foreign-owned fossil fuel giants to extract more oil and gas from these islands and sell it overseas to the highest bidder.

“Rishi Sunak has proven once and for all that he puts the profits of oil companies above everyday people. We know that relying on fossil fuels is terrible for our energy security, the cost of living, and the climate. Our sky-high bills and recent extreme weather have shown us that.

“They come from grasping the opportunities of unblocking and upscaling abundant and affordable renewables, and properly insulating the nation – ensuring clean air and water, thriving nature and wildlife, and high-quality skilled and stable jobs in the process.

“If we’re going to secure this liveable future, we must stop all new fossil fuel projects like Rosebank once and for all.”

Philip Evans, climate campaigner of Greenpeace UK, said:

“The ugly truth is that Sunak is pandering to vested interests, demonstrating the stranglehold the fossil fuel lobby has on Government decision making. And it’s bill payers and the climate that will suffer because of it. Why else would he make such a reckless decision?

“This decision is nothing but carte blanche to fossil fuel companies to ruin the climate, punish bill payers, and siphon off obscene profits. But we already have the solutions to cut bills, increase energy security and cut emissions, but the government ignores them in favour of handouts to corporations at the expense of the rest of us.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s oil and gas campaigner Freya Aitchison accused the government of “slamming its foot down on the accelerator” of fossil fuels but said the campaign would go on:

“The fight against Rosebank will continue. Fossil fuel projects rely not only on government support, but also financing and broader public acceptance. People power forced Shell to pull out of the controversial Cambo oil field and Rosebank is three times bigger.

“There is widespread anger at this irresponsible decision and we will keep up the pressure on the UK and Scottish Governments to reject the Rosebank oil field, as well as taking the fight directly to Equinor and Rosebank’s corporate financiers.

“The tide is turning against fossil fuels: climate science could not be clearer that in order to stay within safe climate limits, we must end all new extraction of oil and gas. Equinor has been forced to pull the plug on fossil fuel projects in the past, in the Great Australian Bight and recently on the Wisting oil field in Norway. We can and we must stop them again.”

Energy secretary calls for pragmatism

The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho MP, defended the announcement on X (formerly Twitter), describing it as pragmatic.

“We will not play politics with our energy security.

“The choice we face is this: do we shut down our own oil and gas leaving us reliant on foreign regimes? Do we lose 200,000 jobs across the UK? Do we import fuel with much higher carbon footprints instead? And lose billions in tax revenue?

“We are a world leader at reducing carbon emissions but as much as we will be ambitious, we must be pragmatic that is why I support the @NSTAuthority’s decision to approve Rosebank today.”

But Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, responded:

“It’s a strange warped world in which the government frames this as ‘pragmatic’.

“There is nothing ‘pragmatic’ about climate breakdown.”

Labour’s shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, told Sky News said today the party did not support development of Rosebank, describing it as “not good value for money”. But he said a Labour government would not revoke existing oil and gas licences.

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said:

“We are accelerating renewables and nuclear power but will still need oil and gas for decades to come – so let’s get more of what we need from within British waters.”

Net Zero Watch also welcome the news. It described it as:

“finally some common sense in our energy policy, Britain should be using its untapped resources”.

But RSPB Scotland said:

“Approval of the Rosebank project is nothing short of a disaster. It flies in the face of our climate & nature emergency, and further undermines and compromises the UK’s efforts to meet its net zero commitments.”

Charlotte Howell-Jones, fossil fuel campaigner at Parents For Future, described the decision as “indefensible”:

“Not just for the impact of the emissions it will create but for the message this sends to other global leaders.

“Approving Rosebank pushes us closer towards an unliveable future for all children. And failing to move swiftly to cheaper, homegrown renewable energy means more families will be freezing again this winter.

“Parents across the UK are standing up against the climate denial of this government to protect all our children. We will continue to fight back to stop Rosebank and push for policies that tackle climate change and bring down our energy bills at the same time.”

In June 2023, the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, urged countries to end licensing or funding of new oil and gas and stop the expansion of existing reserves.

The International Energy Agency warned before the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in 2021 that no new oil and gas exploration should take place if the world was to meet its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Last night, the chair of COP26, the Conservative MP, Alok Sharma, announced he was not standing at the next election.