AHEAD of the G7 Summit in Cornwall this week, the leading industry body for the UK’s changing offshore oil and gas industry has said it has a ‘radical’ energy plan that will set an example for other G7 governments to follow to tackle climate change.
OGUK said the North Sea Transition Deal, signed by the industry and the UK Government in March, will harness the sector’s 50 years’ worth of essential energy expertise to transform the country’s energy system to low-carbon and boost the green revolution.
The plan will unlock £16bn in investment to develop sustainable technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen, will reduce the UK’s emissions by 60 million tonnes (the equivalent to taking 2.5m cars off the road), and will help every other major industrial sector decarbonise too.
Through the deal, the UK Government will create an internationally competitive and level playing field which prioritises UK energy, jobs, businesses, and communities, encouraging innovation and sustaining the investment need to realise net zero.
OGUK has said the plan can be a blueprint for other G7 countries to work with their own industrial sectors to develop plans for decarbonisation.
OGUK CEO Deirdre Michie said:
“Our radical Transition Deal is a great example for other G7 countries to follow in leading homegrown, managed energy transitions of their own.
“It shows how countries can deliver the Paris Agreement by putting the oil and gas industry’s essential expertise to work to develop lower carbon energy. It’s a plan which is good for jobs, our economy and our climate goals.
“With this plan, the UK offshore oil and gas sector is ideally placed to work with other industries to boost a global green revolution and reap the benefits of a fair transition towards net zero emissions.”
