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As the Government launches its planned oil and gas consultations, it has an open opportunity to overhaul our flawed tax system and to deliver on its Green Prosperity Plan and ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels. Following the new government’s first budget, we zoom out to take a broader look at the debates about the future of North Sea taxation – and why Labour should go beyond tweaks to the windfall tax.

Just as world leaders gather in Azerbaijan for COP29, and the UK jostles to restore its reputation as a climate leader, Uplift – together with Greenpeace – will appear in the Court of session in Edinburgh to bring forward their legal challenges against Rosebank – the largest untapped oil field in the UK.

Despite its welcome mission to shift Britain to clean energy, this government currently has no plan to ensure that the transition benefits the UK’s energy workers and communities. It needs to get one fast.

The oil and gas industry has long positioned itself as a major partner in the UK’s energy transition which has, until this point, allowed it to play a pivotal role in determining the shape and pace of the North Sea’s transition. But how many oil and gas companies are actually committed to transitioning to clean energy? And how many are continuing to pursue oil and gas for as long as it is profitable?

As part of its ongoing persuasion campaign to be allowed to continue drilling in the UK, the oil and gas industry regularly points to efforts it is making to cut emissions from North Sea production. The latest announcement from the industry is that it is ahead of schedule when it comes to meeting its targets to reduce emissions. Here’s why we should be wary of these claims. 

The government has announced that it will not defend legal challenges against Rosebank. It agreed that the decision made by the previous government to approve this huge oil field was unlawful – a huge win for a liveable climate and a massive step in stopping Rosebank for good.

When the Conservative government approved the Rosebank oil field, they did so ignoring the massive climate pollution that would be released into the atmosphere when its reserves are inevitably burnt. But thanks to a landmark Supreme Court ruling, oil and gas companies will now have to disclose the full extent of the harm new developments will have on our climate. Here we explore what this could mean for the future of Rosebank.

The UK is at a critical juncture in its energy policy, particularly concerning the future of the North Sea. Our oil and gas reserves, as well as the number of jobs supported by the industry, are in decline. Add to this the climate crisis, which requires the rapid phase out of oil and gas production, and the need for a fair transition to clean energy is both obvious and urgent.The North Sea’s capacity to deliver power, jobs and wealth for Scotland and across the UK presents us with a huge opportunity, but it will require this government to address head on the political and policy failures of recent years. 

Ahead of the King’s Speech, this briefing sets out why the government must use this opportunity to kickstart the legislative reforms required for a just transition away from oil and gas towards clean energy.

Energy policy, and specifically the future of the North Sea, is a clear dividing line between the main political parties in this general election. Here we look at some of the claims being made, and if policies have popular support in Scotland. 

Varying predictions of oil and gas production create wildly different, and potentially misleading, predictions of oil and gas job losses. But there is widespread agreement: jobs are in decline regardless, so workers are right to demand a transition plan.

New polling has found that concern about climate change remains high across Scotland and that two-thirds of Scots want climate change to remain a top priority for the Scottish Government. The survey also revealed a lack of trust in both the current UK Government and North Sea oil and gas companies to safely handle the transition towards green energy. 

Today the oil and gas regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, has announced the offer of 31 oil and gas licences under the 33rd oil and gas licensing round. The round was opened in October 2022 under Liz Truss’s government as part of its ‘dash for gas’. New licences add virtually nothing to the UK’s energy supply and do nothing to lower energy bills.

Despite positioning itself as a driving force in the UK’s shift to clean energy, the oil and gas industry’s North Sea transition plan is not fit-for-purpose. A fair transition will only be achieved when government takes responsibility for properly managing it and when everyone – unions, and workers and impacted communities– has a say in what it looks like.

A recent legal win in Norway means that the oil and gas industry and its champions in government can no longer assume that courts will overlook the true climate impact of new oil and gas fields. What does it mean for challenges to drilling projects in the UK?

The UK’s transition away from oil and gas production is already well underway. But for all the talk of a ‘just transition’, the UK lacks a coherent plan for making sure that the workers and communities dependent on the oil and gas sector benefit from the North Sea’s shift to clean energy. This report looks at the current failed plan and shows what is needed to kick-start a fair transition.

New oil and gas licensing is pitched as being key to UK energy independence, but is this just a pipedream? After nearly five decades of drilling, North Sea reserves are in steep decline and new discoveries are unlikely. This research brief, which looks at recent licensing rounds and official projections, shows why new oil and gas licensing won’t deliver energy security.

According to the government, its new legislation to increase oil and gas licensing in the North Sea will ‘boost energy security’. Others dispute this, including the oil and gas regulator, which has called it ‘unnecessary’. This brief outlines what the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill does and, crucially, what it won’t do for UK energy independence, jobs and tax revenue.