The next few days are truly our last chance to stop Rosebank. Activists defeated this mega-oilfield in court last year, but of course this wasn’t enough to deter oil giant Equinor, which is dogged in its pursuit of climate-wrecking profit.
Equinor is now back again, asking the UK government for new permission to develop Rosebank. The government is asking the public what we think, and Global Justice Now is working with others to collect your views and make sure they land on Keir Starmer’s desk.
Rosebank would be a climate disaster that will fatten the wallets of fossil fuel giants who are destroying our world and do nothing to bring our bills down, or achieve long term justice for workers in the North Sea. If you want to tell the prime minister what you think of this all-round disaster, please use our action by Sunday 16 November:
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Over the last week, we’ve learned more about how Rosebank will be owned and operated if the government gives it the green light. Researchers have uncovered more information about ‘Adura’, a new joint venture between Equinor and UK oil giant Shell that will run Rosebank.
You won’t be surprised to hear that both companies stand to make significant gains from running projects like Rosebank through Adura. Equinor will have access to income from Shell’s North Sea projects, helping to financially offset the difficulties it has had getting major projects like Rosebank up and running. In turn, Shell will have a vehicle to dodge paying UK tax, with Adura acting as a UK ‘tax shelter’ for the billion-pound company. [1]
All this amounts to an estimated £1.3 billion that Equinor will help Shell to avoid paying to the UK government. [2] This figure is a stark reminder of the true costs of letting oil giants grow their coffers through developing projects like Rosebank.
The £1.3 billion Shell is avoiding in tax could be used to support North Sea oil and gas workers through the energy transition. It could be spent on propping up crumbling public services like our NHS and schools. It could be sent to climate vulnerable communities in the global south, who just last week Keir Starmer promised to stand with in his address to the COP30 leaders’ summit. Instead, it will first and foremost go into the pockets of mega-rich shareholders and fossil fuel CEOs.
And that’s before we even account for the costs of climate change, which Rosebank will only increase. From escalating everyday costs like rising food prices, to increases on major expenses like insurance, climate change is making life more expensive for ordinary people. Earlier in the year, research found that climate change is set to cost £3,000 per household in 2025. [3]
The climate change that Rosebank will help to supercharge is also having major economic and human costs for the people who are least responsible. Jamaica, which has contributed a fraction of overall global emissions, has just been hit by the devastating Hurricane Melissa. Damage from Melissa, a category 5 hurricane that was supercharged by warming oceans, is estimated to have been equivalent to 30% of Jamaica’s GDP. It also killed at least 75 people and displaced a further 77,000. [4] How is it right that oil companies can keep developing massive oilfields and dodging billions in tax when their activities result in this kind of loss and destruction?
Keir Starmer was at the COP30 leaders’ summit last week, promising that the UK was ‘all in’ for the fight against climate change. He promised to stand with countries like Jamaica that have been wrecked by climate change in recent weeks.
We can’t let his government make any of these claims while Rosebank is still on the table. If you can, please challenge the prime minister to make good on his promises in Brazil last week, and stop Rosebank:
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Thank you,
Izzie McIntosh
Climate campaigner at Global Justice Now
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