HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE ROSEBANK CONSULTATION 🌹

Deadline: 17 August 2026

💚 STEP ONE: COPY AND PASTE THE BELOW TEXT (edit to suit if you wish)

💚 STEP TWO: SEND TO OPRED@energysecurity.gov.uk + copy your MP!

💚 STEP THREE: LET US KNOW YOU SENT THE LETTER USING THE FORM OPPOSITE (takes 30 secs)

DRAFT COPY:

Opposition to Rosebank Oilfield – Ref. ES/2002/001

To whom it may concern at OPRED,

In response to the ongoing public consultation regarding drilling the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea, please take this letter as my strong opposition to this project.

The new data provided by the developers of the Rosebank oil field make it crystal clear to me as a parent, tax payer and conscious citizen that this project can not go ahead. 254 million tonnes of planet heating gas would be released from using Rosebank’s oil when for context, the UK's total annual emissions in 2024 were 371 million tonnes. Rosebank was already controversial when the original environmental impact assessment figure counted of 4.5 tonnes from extracting the oil and gas. This accurate figure is more than 50 times higher.

The main concerns I have regarding the Rosebank oilfield are the very real climate impacts these additional emissions would have. In Britain and around the world the climate crisis is already having brutal effects. We are seeing more and more intense heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and flooding causing unprecedented destruction and suffering, not only abroad but here in the UK. This increase in extreme weather is pushing this country to breaking point; our schools, hospitals and infrastructure buckle under ever more intense heat, floods cause damage and displacement, water shortages are now the norm in summer and our food security is at greater risk each year. This summer alone, we have seen 2,700 excess deaths counted so far, drought with harvests set to be the worst on record, the Fire services stretched, and precious biodiversity lost to over 700 wildfires, covering 50,000 acres. The extreme heat has also cost the UK economy £1billion pounds - and the heat continues.

The future of ALL children is at stake

The future of my children is no longer safe and is absolutely not guaranteed thanks to locked in emissions. And any new oil and gas projects will be making a very bad situation worse. Scientists around the world warn we are alarmingly close to breaching key tipping points for climate and nature which would have catastrophic and irreversible effects. And the International Energy Agency states clearly we can have NO new oil and gas projects if we hope to keep the climate stable enough for humanity to continue. Writing to you as a parent, I hope you understand the utter horror we feel that this project continues to be considered

Nature and food systems collapse

The UK is already one of the most nature deprived countries in the world, and nature is under such extreme stress in the UK that it could lead to food system collapse by 2030, which the government admits in its own reports. Meanwhile, experts warn of the potential collapse of the AMOC current and its implications, causing bitterly cold winters and even hotter summers. This, among other devastation, would destroy our infrastructure, cause massive damage to towns and cities, lead to thousands more heat-related deaths per year and would leave the UK (and much of Europe) essentially unable to produce any meaningful food. Ultimately, the consequences of this would be mass displacement, economic collapse, widespread civil unrest and potentially millions of deaths.

It is clear that the risks that new oil and gas pose cannot be overstated. Despite the stark warnings from leading experts, Rosebank is projected to produce the equivalent of 254 million tonnes of CO2 during its lifetime, pushing our entire planet closer to the brink of collapse.

Bills and energy security

Although the climate implications of Rosebank alone are grounds for it to be scrapped, there are misconceptions in the media and online that new domestic oil and gas would deliver improved energy security and lower fuel bills. Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency said it will not change much for our energy security and bills. We don’t own the fields and the oil would be sold on the international market. Rosebank would not provide a tangible benefit to fuel or energy supply in the UK.

What we urgently need is bold investment in homegrown, renewable energy and support to lower our energy usage through insulating our poor housing stock. That WILL lower our bills and provide energy security.

Fossil fuel price shocks contributed to more than half of UK recessions since the 1970s, and Russia’s war in Ukraine forced the UK to pay an estimated £183 billion in additional energy costs.

By contrast, renewable energy is already shielding us from price volatility. In March 2026 alone, record wind and solar generation avoided the need for gas imports worth £1 billion. Analysis has also found that the roughly 15 GW of wind and solar power secured in the latest UK renewable energy auction will avoid the need to import 78 tankers of LNG each year by 2030.

National security

National security is also at stake here, as detailed in the part- withheld National security assessment on biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.

Economic growth and jobs

The government currently provides billions in fossil fuel subsidies per year, with Rosebank potentially leading to a net loss of hundreds of millions of pounds to the Treasury, due to enormous tax breaks for new UK drilling.

I understand the concerns regarding employment, but new fields like Rosebank will not stem the decline of jobs in the North Sea, which is now a mature basin in steep decline. In the decade to 2024, the number of jobs supported by the North Sea oil and gas industry has more than halved, despite new fields being approved.

With the North Sea’s oil and gas reserves in terminal decline, the only way to protect workers is to invest in renewable industries with a long-term future and to create clear pathways into new, good-quality jobs in those industries.

Human Rights and Genocide

Rosebank is currently majority owned (80%) by a company called Adura, which is a joint venture between Norwegian oil giant Equinor and Shell. The latter party is infamous for having a track record of lying about the harms of fossil fuels, repeatedly quashing the truth about the climate crisis and committing crimes against humanity around the world. Meanwhile, the remaining 20% of Rosebank is owned by Ithaca Energy, who are a subsidiary of the Israeli-owned and UN black-listed Delek group. Again, the latter company has its share of controversies linked to its financial ties with businesses that facilitate the illegal occupation by Israel of Palestinian Territories.

If the UK is to be competitive on the global stage, and build an affordable and secure energy system fit for the future, we must push forward with renewables instead of continuing to support a polluting industry that has proven itself chronically unable to sustain decent jobs. By doing so, we will lower bills, provide energy security and create good jobs while demonstrating the UK as a global leader on climate action and helping to safeguard this country for my kids and ALL kids.

To approve Rosebank would be to rip off the people of Britain, providing them no benefits while endangering their futures, simply so that oil and gas giants can make ever more profit. As a citizen and taxpayer, it would be a disgrace for public money to be spent on subsidising such a disastrous project. For all the reasons discussed and more, this government must uphold its manifesto promises, and its duty of care to the people of this country, and abandon any current or future plans for new North Sea oil and gas extraction, and instead lead the transition to renewable energy that benefits people and our planet.

Yours Faithfully,

Yours Faithfully,

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