Rosebank project referred to an undeveloped oil and gas field located in the North Sea, about 130 kilometers northwest of the Shetland Islands. The field is one of the largest untapped resources in the U.K. Continental Shelf. The project was previously operated by Chevron before it was acquired by Equinor (formerly Statoil) in 2018.

UK’s most senior climate adviser says policy is ‘right thing to do’ and criticises government’s stance. Gummer, a former Conservative environment secretary in the 1990s, blasted ministers who have attacked Labour’s proposals. He pointed out that the government’s support for new oil and gas exploration ran counter to its stance at international climate negotiations, now taking place in Bonn.

The development of the Rosebank project has been challenging due to its depth, harsh environment, and complex geology, leading to significant costs. It has therefore been delayed multiple times. The project’s future was uncertain as of 2021, depending on factors such as oil prices, technological improvements, and Equinor’s investment decisions.

PThe Rosebank project is three times bigger than the controversial Cambo field that was put on hold more than a year ago and has the potential to produce 500m barrels of oil, which when burned would emit as much carbon dioxide as running 56 coal-fired power stations for a year.

this week the government’s climate advisers said pushing ahead with the new fossil fuel development in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence was “utterly unacceptable

Tessa Khan, from the campaign group Uplift, said if the project was given approval they would step up their campaign, targeting “all those who are enabling it” including the Norwegian government and the banks and insurers that are behind the project

Climate activists say they “have strong grounds to believe that an unconditional approval of Rosebank would be unlawful”.

The International Energy Agency warned before the UK-hosted Cop26 climate summit in 2021 that no new oil and gas exploration should take place if the world was to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures. This year, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, called on governments to halt new licences for oil and gas exploration and development

The science is clear, as the IEA said: we cannot develop new fossil fuel projects if the world is to stop climate catastrophe. Any government who wants to be taken seriously as a climate leader must do everything they can to stop all new licences for oil and gas.” Hannah Martin, a co-director of Green New Deal Rising