THE Rosebank decision is the most consequential one Rishi Sunak will make as Prime Minister. In doing so, he has shown why Westminster is a clear and present danger to our environment.

Giving Rosebank the go-ahead was the worst possible choice at the worst possible time. At 500 million barrels, it will be catastrophic for our climate and our net-zero ambitions.

It wasn’t just a reckless decision for today, it was one that will have dire implications for decades to come. Coming only one week after a climate climbdown that shredded long-standing environmental commitments, the Prime Minister is deliberately choosing to burn our future as part of his culture war.

There is no way to negotiate with science. Our world has just had the hottest summer since records began, with the UN secretary-general António Guterres warning that we have entered an era of “global boiling”. Jim Skea, the highly respected chair of the IPCC, said in the hours afterwards that the world already has too much oil to meet the 1.5C target of global temperature rises.

READ MORE: Rosebank oil field faces legal battle after UK Government approval

None of this will be news to anyone on the Tory benches. They are just as aware of the threats as anyone else. They have seen the exact same images of wildfires and floods as we have. It’s not a “climate wait and see” that we’re in – it’s an emergency.

Unfortunately, despite some warm words, Labour is not much better.

Rather than showing the courage of their convictions, Sir Keir Starmer and his shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, have confirmed that if their party enters Downing Street they would not cancel a single new oil and gas licence.

Are these really the actions of a party of government? It’s a cowardly and short-sighted abdication of responsibility.

Opposing something right until the moment you are able to do something about it is not enough. It’s like watching a fire burning in front of you, then being given a fire extinguisher and throwing it away.

The National:

There is nothing inevitable about the dominance of oil and gas. We already have the resources and technology to move beyond fossil fuels.

What we don’t have in Scotland are the powers of independence to do so. When it comes to energy policy and the financial levers to deliver change, all the biggest decisions lie with Westminster.

I have seen the massive potential that is being squandered. Before I was elected to the Scottish Parliament, I was a project manager in the renewables sector, where I had the privilege of working with some of the best and most skilled engineers anywhere in the world.

I worked on a project that launched the world’s biggest tidal device into Scottish waters. At 680 tonnes it was no small feat. Its departure from Dundee was the first vessel launch that the city had seen in 40 years. It was a milestone for Scottish industry, and one that will generate enough clean and green electricity to power 2000 homes.

With teams across Edinburgh, Dundee, Fife and Orkney, I’ve worked in shipyards and factories all across Scotland. It was a national project and a great feat of engineering. It is a tribute to the skills that we are so lucky to have.

It’s that sense of excitement, that feeling of making a positive contribution to our world and our future, that so many more people will be able to experience if we are able to get a just transition worthy of their incredible skills and talent.

I got involved in politics because I was inspired by the energy of the 2014 referendum and the opportunity it presented. It brought thousands of us together to explore ideas, to debate and discuss the future that we wanted for Scotland.

That’s why the environment has always been key to my vision for independence. I have seen the huge difference that pro-climate and pro-environment governments can make by embracing renewables and supporting our sector.

That is what we are doing in Scotland, where we are growing our renewables sector and have just announced a groundbreaking new deal with industry to deliver more wind farms and benefit communities, boost the economy and reduce carbon emissions.

It means that the average time for applications for large wind farms will be cut in half. This is the vital work that risks being undone by Sunak’s climate vandalism.

Young people today are becoming more politically aware and ever more involved in building a better future.

That’s why Fridays for Future will strike again today like they have every Friday since August 2018. Or why Cameron Eadie is standing as a Scottish Green candidate in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, less than a week away, so his generation has a voice speaking up for climate action.

The Rosebank announcement has been met with anger and despair. It is the embodiment of so much that is wrong with our broken UK political system, one that puts profit over people, with its increasingly and deliberately irresponsible approach to the world around us.

Oil and gas is the energy of the past. Independence is about our future. If we are to leave a liveable planet for future generations, then we need to act now and build a fairer, greener and better tomorrow and embrace the huge renewable potential that is all around us.