THE activist who challenged Nicola Sturgeon over the Cambo oil field development during a carnival in her constituency has called on the First Minister to go further than telling Westminster to “reassess” the plans.
Jennifer Kowalski from Green New Deal Rising was one of the protesters at the Govanhill Carnival who asked the First Minister if she’d oppose the development.
According to some estimated up to 132 million tonnes of carbon could be released if the Cambo field is given the green light and require a land mass 1.5 times the size of Scotland to counter.
READ MORE: Cambo oil field: Oxfam urge Scottish Government to oppose plans
The decision on the development is up to Westminster, given it is a reserved power. Today the First Minister wrote to Boris Johnson asking him to “reassess” licences issued for oil and gas production where field development is yet to begin, which would include the Cambo proposals.
Sturgeon said licences should be “reassessed in light of the severity of the climate emergency we now face, and against a compatibility checkpoint that is fully aligned with our climate change targets and obligations”.
READ MORE: Cambo oil field: Boris Johnson 'not aware' of Shetland project
Kowalski said the First Minister needs to go further. “After challenging Nicola Sturgeon this weekend to stop the Cambo oil field, she has decided to write to the UK Government about it,” she said. “But asking the Government to ‘reassess’ is not enough. She needs to stop hiding behind the Conservatives and commit to no new oil fields in Scotland. Nothing less will do.
“The climate crisis is here. The planet is burning. My generation's future hangs in the balance, and empty words won’t cut it. Our movement will keep challenging leaders like her who refuse to stand up and be brave wherever they are, disrupting business as usual, until they step up or step aside.”
In her letter, Sturgeon told the Prime Minister: “We are both well aware of the importance of oil and gas over many decades – not least in terms of jobs – to the Scottish and UK economies.
“We also understand that reducing reliance on domestic production of oil and gas, which we must do, without increasing imports – which would potentially increase emissions – depends on the development of alternatives.
“However, the answer to these challenges – given the urgency of the climate emergency – cannot be business as usual. Instead, we must take decisions and make investments now to support – and accelerate -the development of these alternatives and thereby secure a just, but appropriately rapid, transition for the oil and gas industry, and the workers and communities currently reliant on it.”
Activists handed in a letter to No 10 signed by 80,000 people opposing the Cambo oil field
She added: “Indeed, I am asking that the UK Government now commits to significantly enhancing the climate conditionality associated with offshore oil and gas production.
“Additionally, however, I am also asking that the UK Government agrees to reassess licences already issued but where field development has not yet commenced.
“That would include the proposed Cambo development.”
She also pushed for the “knowledge and experience” of the oil and gas sector, along with its supply chain, to be harnessed in the creation of more renewable opportunities.
Greenpeace UK described the letter as a “PR exercise”, with campaigner Sam Chetan-Walsh saying: “Nicola Sturgeon is deferring to Boris Johnson to check the climate impact of Cambo, but until she makes her own stance clear this is just a PR exercise.
“The experts couldn’t be clearer – humanity is at code red, and the last thing we can afford is a new oilfield which would pump out the equivalent emissions of 18 coal-fired power stations running for a year.
“The First Minister must stop hiding behind Boris Johnson. If she wants to show leadership on climate she must clearly say, ‘Stop Cambo’.”
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