Letter to Ed Miliband about supporting renewable energy over the fossil fuel industry

After the publication of the government’s Autumn Budget, I’ve written to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, about ending support for the fossil fuel industry and backing renewable energy instead.

You can read the letter in full here:

The full text of the letter reads:

Dear Ed,

A clean, secure and just future for energy in the UK

I am writing following the publication of the Chancellor’s autumn budget and your North Sea Future Plan to ask you to commit to a clean, secure and just future for energy in the UK.

Our energy security, lower bills and secure jobs depend upon clean renewable power, not the declining fossil fuel industry. Your decision to ban new licenses for oil and gas exploration is very welcome, recognising the catastrophic impact any new extraction will have on our environment. Homegrown wind, solar and (I hope) tidal power are the future of British energy. Yet even with North Sea reserves running dry, oil and gas companies are standing in the way of this transition, putting their workers and the climate at risk in the process.

Whilst the decision to maintain the principle of the Energy Profits Levy was very welcome, the weakening of conditions for the Oil and Gas Price Mechanism suggest the Government lacks the necessary resolve to restrain the excesses of fossil fuel companies. From 2030, a windfall tax will only apply when prices breach $90 per barrel or 90p per therm, higher than the current threshold under the Energy Security Investment Mechanism. This means that from 2030 the government will allow oil and gas industry profits to grow higher before they are taxed to fund clean energy and jobs. Exceptions to the new oil and gas licensing ban for ‘tie-backs’ are also unacceptable, allowing new drilling where it can be fed back into an existing facility nearby. This is indefensible when we know every drop of oil or gas burned puts our future further at risk.

There is no time to lose in taking bold action. The increasing volatility of our climate is felt already in dangerous flooding and rising food prices, whilst across the world countries on the front line of the crisis face an existential threat from extreme weather and rising sea levels.

That’s why it is time to go further. I urge you to take the following steps to back clean energy, protect jobs and cut the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions:

• Stop Rosebank and Jackdaw: Burning the reserves at Rosebank alone would produce over 200 million tonnes of CO2, more than the combined annual emissions of all 28 low-income countries. Rosebank’s reserves will be sold to the highest bidder at international market prices, so will do nothing to reduce energy bills at home. In total, there are 13 oil and gas projects which have been licensed but not granted development consent. The government must ensure none of these go ahead.

• End tax breaks for fossil fuel companies: Tax breaks on fossil fuel production are currently estimated to be worth £2.7 billion per year. Meanwhile oil and gas producers provide billions of pounds worth of shareholder payouts, all whilst laying off large sections of the workforce.

• Fund a jobs guarantee for oil and gas workers: Money raised from taxing the profits of the fossil fuel industry should help those employed in high-carbon industries, like oil and gas, to find equivalent alternative employment or funded retraining.

I would be grateful to discuss any of these proposals with you in further detail.