{"id":661702,"date":"2026-10-22T04:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T04:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/661702\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T04:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T04:20:12","slug":"climate-campaigners-condemn-maddening-decision-to-approve-jackdaw-gasfield-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/661702\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate campaigners condemn \u2018maddening\u2019 decision to approve Jackdaw gasfield | Gas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate campaigners and green experts have condemned the government\u2019s decision to allow the drilling of the Jackdaw<\/a> gasfield in the North Sea.<\/p>\n

They said approval for the site would jeopardise the UK\u2019s climate targets<\/a>, fail to reduce the cost of living<\/a>, and distract from the need to decarbonise the UK\u2019s energy sector.<\/p>\n

Many drew parallels with the record-breaking heatwave<\/a> and drought<\/a>, fuelled by global heating, that the UK experienced this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the prime minister living in a parallel universe? One where we haven\u2019t just endured our hottest summer on record, with droughts, wildfires<\/a> and, in all likelihood, the most heat-related deaths on record?\u201d said Danny Gross, climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth. \u201cAnd where the UN hasn\u2019t warned that we\u2019re on the brink of breaching the all-important 1.5C warming limit<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

As the gas from Jackdaw will be sold on international markets, Gross said it would not bolster the UK\u2019s energy security, but would add to global greenhouse gas emissions. \u201cThe disconnect [between the government\u2019s green ambitions and its actions] is maddening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"HowHow bad is Jackdaw gasfield approval for the climate? – The Latest<\/p>\n

\u201cThis benefits oil giants and their shareholders and doesn\u2019t make life more affordable as Burnham promised,\u201d said Tessa Khan, the executive director of the campaigning organisation Uplift. \u201cClean energy is how we lower bills<\/a>, reindustrialise regions and increase public control \u2013 not by caving to an oil industry making obscene profits while pushing up bills<\/a>, laying off workers and driving the heatwaves we saw this summer<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the North Sea is a rapidly declining basin, any rise in jobs is likely to be small and short-lived, analysis suggests<\/a>. Kyle Lischak, the head of UK at the legal pressure group ClientEarth, said: \u201cThe companies drilling our oil and gasfield will soon leave the empty oilfields with record profits, whilst we pay the price of extreme weather for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visitors seek shade beneath umbrellas in Greenwich Park, south-east London, during the summer\u2019s prolonged heatwave. Photograph: Zuma Press, Inc.\/Alamy Stock Photo\/Alamy Live News.<\/p>\n

Ami McCarthy, the head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said: \u201cApproving Jackdaw shows the toxic grip fossil fuel lobbyists still hold over our energy policy. Andy Burnham<\/a> promised pragmatism, but there is nothing pragmatic about rubber-stamping a project that won\u2019t lower energy bills, won\u2019t boost energy security and will create just 27 full-time jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Conservatives, Reform and some trade union leaders, including Sharon Graham\u2019s Unite, cheered the government\u2019s decision but 10 unions, representing firefighters, healthcare workers, teachers and others, signed a statement<\/a> last week opposing development of the Rosebank oilfield.<\/p>\n

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Many Labour MPs have been sorely disappointed by the government\u2019s green light, but some are seeking a compromise by which in return for staying quiet over the Jackdaw decision \u2013 and potentially over the Rosebank oilfield, a decision on which is still in the offing \u2013 they want to stave off any watering down of the mandate on electric vehicles<\/a>, which is also under consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EV mandate is a bigger issue, in terms of emissions in the long term,\u201d one Labour MP told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

Britain will \u2018pay the price of extreme weather for decades to come\u2019. Photograph: Justin Kase z12z\/Alamy<\/p>\n

But the Green party sees a potential electoral advantage in Labour\u2019s divisions over the North Sea<\/a>. There are now scores of seats in which the Greens could be the main opposition to Labour at the next election, and where concern over the climate is a key priority. The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, said of the Jackdaw decision: \u201cThis is climate vandalism. Today\u2019s decision by Labour is a betrayal of all of our futures, Labour has abandoned all credibility in the fight against climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy secretary [Miatta Fahnbulleh] has herself said it will make no difference to energy bills; the health secretary has admitted the summer heatwave added to pressure on the NHS, and the industry\u2019s own assessment is that it will create only 27 jobs. This is a victory for Shell over the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnham and Fahnbulleh are expected to attend the next UN climate summit, Cop31, in Turkey next month<\/a>, where governments will be asked to show they are living up to their climate commitments.<\/p>\n

Map<\/a><\/p>\n

Mohamed Adow, the director of the Power Shift Africa thinktank, warned that the UK\u2019s power to persuade was damaged by further fossil fuel exploitation, which would encourage other countries to ignore climate science and pursue markets for their own reserves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cApproving Jackdaw is a serious blow to Britain\u2019s international climate credibility,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cThe UK cannot expect developing countries to move away from fossil fuels while giving the green light to new drilling in its own back yard. That double standard will not go unnoticed by countries already suffering the consequences of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cBritain has spent years presenting itself as a climate leader, but leadership is about what you do, not what you say. At a time when the world urgently needs to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, approving new gas developments sends completely the wrong message.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Climate campaigners and green experts have condemned the government\u2019s decision to allow the drilling of the Jackdaw gasfield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-661702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}