accelerating climate change !

Avington Oil Field taken from article at https://drillordrop.com/2023/07/13/south-downs-oil-field-to-restart-production/

Just recently the Prime Minister announced a raft of new oilfield drilling licences in the North Sea, which will fuel further climate destruction and do nothing to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency and the United Nations have all made clear there can be no new fossil fuel projects if there is to be any chance of keeping global temperature rises under 1.5 degrees – a goal that the UK signed up to as part of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

An extraordinary decision as the world heats up to temperatures not seen in over 100,000 years and with many parts of the world on fire!

Closer to home, and despite opposition from the South Downs National Park Authority, the Government’s Planning Inspectorate has just given permission for oil pumping to recommence at Avington, northeast of Winchester. The plans show that highly polluting gases associated with the oil pumping, including methane, are simply going to be released into our air.

Oil extraction activity at Avington is wholly inappropriate set against both Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council’s carbon neutrality ambitions and is inconsistent with the City Council’s Jan 2023 motion to oppose initiatives to expand fossil fuel use and extraction.

The only way to effectively and sustainably reduce people’s bills, tackle the climate crisis and create millions of jobs for the future is to invest in insulating people’s homes, invest in a rapid rollout of electric heat pumps, invest in cheap and accessible public transport, and massively ramp up renewable energy.

The solutions are already there. The Government is choosing to ignore them and expand oil and gas instead. An expensive and morally reprehensible decision that will make life harder for everyone.