Rosebank: A major climate test

Parliamentary Briefing

Rosebank: key information

The UK government now has the opportunity to make a new decision on whether to approve or reject Rosebank – the UK’s largest undeveloped oil field.
Rosebank is majority owned by Adura - a new 50/50 joint venture between Shell and Equinor and now the biggest oil and gas producer in the UK. The oil companies have reapplied for drilling permission for Rosebank. This follows the field’s initial approval by the previous UK government being ruled unlawful for failing to take into account the full impact that burning Rosebank’s reserves will have on the climate.
Although the powers to approve oil and gas fields are reserved to the UK Government, given the location of the field, the Scottish Government’s stance remains hugely significant. Despite opposing approval of the Cambo oil field in 2021, the Scottish Government has yet to clarify its position on Rosebank.
The new decision on Rosebank is subject to a tightened environmental impact assessment process, requiring the full emissions from burning Rosebank’s reserves to be counted for the first time.
The assessment of Rosebank’s full climate harm is now required alongside existing appraisals of its economic impact and compatibility with UK energy policy, which includes the UK Government’s new objective “to take a globally standard-setting, 1.5°C and climate science-aligned approach to future oil and gas production”.
With the UK Government now assessing new projects on their compatibility with climate goals, Rosebank is a major climate test..

Rosebank is a red line for the UK and Scotland’s climate commitments

Rosebank’s projected CO2 emissions are vast – more than the 700 million people living in the world’s poorest countries produce in a year. It will be obvious, when all Rosebank’s emissions are counted, that developing this vast oil field is not compatible with a liveable climate or the UK or Scotland’s climate commitments.
A recent academic study concluded that opening any new North Sea oil and gas fields is inconsistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C. This is because emissions from burning reserves in existing and planned oil and gas fields globally would exceed the remaining carbon budget for 1.5°C by a long way.
Scotland is already suffering from the impacts of climate change, whether its more extreme storms, record wildfires, or the worsening floods we’ve seen in recent years. The costs to government, ordinary people and businesses, including food producers, is mounting year on year, with seven in ten Scots expecting the financial costs of climate impacts to grow over the next decade. New drilling will only make this worse for Scotland’s people and future generations.
Scotland has played a leading international role in climate ambition and, as a top global historical emitter and major oil and gas producer, has the opportunity to demonstrate how the transition away from fossil fuels can be achieved in a way that is aligned with climate science and fair to workers and communities.
The Climate Change Committee advises that limiting the expansion of fossil fuel production must be a key priority for the UK and that “UK policy on future oil and gas production should be aligned with Global Stocktake calls to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels”. While acknowledging that the UK will continue to need some oil and gas until it reaches net zero, the Committee is clear that “this does not in itself justify the development of new North Sea fields”.

Rosebank is a bad deal for Scotland and the UK

Due to the UK’s generous oil and gas tax regime, the UK and Scottish public would effectively shoulder over 80% of the costs – and the vast majority of risk – from developing Rosebank. In a base-case scenario with a long-term average oil price of $70 a barrel, Rosebank could result in a net tax loss of over £250 million to the UK Treasury, while the field’s owners Equinor and Shell (via Adura), as well as Ithaca would earn £1.5 billion in profit.
Since Equinor is majority-owned by the Norwegian state, Norwegian citizens stand to gain far more from Rosebank than the UK and Scotland do. In effect, Rosebank is a redistribution of wealth away from the UK and Scottish public to one of the richest countries in the world.
The claim that oil and gas profits are needed to invest in the transition does not stand up to scrutiny. Equinor – like most oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea – is not investing in renewables. Less than 1% of Equinor's energy came from renewable sources in 2024. More broadly, only seven out of 80 or so North Sea operators plan to invest anything in renewable energy by 2030.

Rosebank will not deliver energy security or lower bills

90% of Rosebank’s reserves are oil, not gas, the majority of which will be exported. Equinor has said that Rosebank’s oil "will be sold on the open market, and the most likely destination for that oil is the continent of Europe." Increasing domestic supply through fields like Rosebank will make no difference to the price Scotland pays for its energy.
Rosebank’s minimal gas reserves only have the potential to reduce UK annual gas import dependency by just 1% on average.
The UN Secretary-General recently said that “The greatest threat to energy security today is fossil fuels. They leave economies and people at the mercy of price shocks, supply disruptions and geopolitical turmoil.”
It is incumbent on the Scottish Government to provide a clear policy direction about the renewable energy future of the North Sea basin, and build confidence and clarity for the oil and gas workforce, its supply chain and investors in the renewables industry.

Rosebank will not protect North Sea workers

With the North Sea’s oil and gas reserves in terminal decline, the only way to protect Scotland’s workers is to invest in renewable industries with a long-term future and to create clear pathways into new, good-quality jobs in those industries. Scotland’s oil and gas workers can transfer their skills to building the new clean energy system - but they need more government help to do so.
New fields like Rosebank will not stem the decline of jobs in the North Sea. The past decade has seen the number of jobs in Scotland supported by the oil and gas industry decline by a staggering 40%, as the basin declines, despite new fields being approved
The industry claim that Rosebank will create thousands of jobs is inflated. Equinor estimates that an average of 500 UK-based jobs could be supported throughout the entire lifetime of the field. The main offshore vessel is being built in Dubai, which Scottish trade unionists called a “shocking betrayal of Scotland’s workers”.

Scrutinising Rosebank's relationship to the Delek Group

20% of Rosebank is owned by Ithaca Energy. British-based Ithaca is majority-owned by the Israeli energy company, Delek Group, which operates in Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory that are considered illegal under international law.
Delek Group is named in a UN list of businesses whose activities in the West Bank have “raised particular human rights concerns”. Delek also provides fuel to the Israeli military via its subsidiary, Delek Israel, with military personnel able to refuel at hundreds of petrol stations owned by Delek Israel.
Norway’s largest pension fund - KLP - divested from the Delek Group in 2021 due to its operations in illegal Israeli settlements with the fund citing an “unacceptable risk of the company contributing to or being responsible for serious breaches of ethical norms”. Additionally, Norway’s $1.5 trillion sovereign wealth fund also divested from Delek in 2023 for ‘violation of ethical norms’ due to the group’s activities in Western Sahara.
If Rosebank is developed, Delek Group is expected to receive around £253 million in revenue from the field, meaning profits from a UK oil project could financially benefit a company linked to human rights violations against Palestinians.

Rosebank faces broad, sustained opposition

The Stop Rosebank campaign represents over one million people and more than 500 civil society organisations, united in calling for an end to all new oil and gas developments in the UK, and a properly funded plan for energy workers and communities.
Over 250 organisations - including Amnesty International UK, The Church of Scotland and RSPB - signed an open letter calling for Starmer to reject Rosebank. Our campaign has also received the support of over 700 scientists and experts, 400 faith leaders, dozens of MPs and MSPs from every major political party, trade unionists, healthcare workers, farmers, young people, parents, fuel poverty campaigners and public figures.
In April, Stop Rosebank handed in 1 million petition signatures to 10 Downing Street, supported by Avaaz, Change.org, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Global Justice Now, Greenpeace and 350.org.
Rosebank faces opposition from across the political spectrum. 46 MPs and 11 MSPs have officially signed the Stop Rosebank Pledge, and the Scottish Parliament had a dedicated parliamentary debate over the climate impacts of the field in November.

Stop Rosebank MSP Pledge

We ask you to please join a growing list of cross-party MPs and MSPs who have officially shown their support for our campaign through the Stop Rosebank MSP pledge:

“I pledge to oppose the Rosebank oil field and advocate for a properly funded just transition for oil and gas workers and communities. I will advocate to fix the UK's broken energy system and mitigate climate breakdown through real solutions such as scaling up renewables, reducing our reliance on oil and gas and insulating our leaky homes.”

For a safe climate and affordable energy, we must end new oil and gas expansion while restoring Scotland’s position as a climate leader, and securing a properly-funded plan for a transition in the North Sea that supports workers and communities.