Activists have demanded plans for a new North Sea gas field are rejected in a sit-down protest outside a prominent Edinburgh government office.
Campaigners from the Stop Cambo movement gathered outside the Market Street building on Wednesday afternoon as part of a protest against Shell’s proposed Jackdaw field off the coast of Aberdeenshire.
The energy giant resubmitted an application for the location last week - despite having initial plans turned down by regulators in October - amid encouragement from the UK authorities for firms to ramp up oil and gas production in an effort to reduce energy reliance on Russia.
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However opponents say the field will provide just “one to two per cent” of the UK’s gas demand across its lifetime while creating around “half” of Scotland’s annual emissions in the process.
Critics have also claimed the project will “do nothing” to reduce soaring energy costs for consumers.
Lauren MacDonald, a climate activist with the Stop Cambo campaign said: “Jackdaw will not lower bills, it will not provide energy security, and it will push us further towards an unlivable climate.
“People in the UK want energy that is affordable and doesn’t put our climate and our future at risk, which means scaling up renewable energy now, insulating millions of leaky homes and immediately stopping the expansion of oil and gas production.
“This government needs to go away and come up with a better energy plan, one that benefits the public and not just Shell.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously rejected calls from Labour to impose a "windfall tax" on energy firms in an effort to bring down monthly bills.
Shell withdrew from the controversial Cambo field project, which attracted criticism from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, amid concerns over 'red tape' but was reported in March to be reconsidering its position.
Initial plans for the Jackdaw field were turned down due to the chemical processes involved in the gas extraction not meeting UK standards, however the company said that issue had been rectified in revised plans.
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Campaigners now want Sturgeon to speak out against those proposals too and called on the First Minister to give her backing to the campaign.
Caroline Rance, of Friends of the Earth Scotland, added: “Opening up the Jackdaw gas field would be a reckless move that would further lock the UK into a broken energy system which is driving up energy bills and accelerating the climate crisis.
“Whilst today's protest is aimed at the UK Government, the First Minister must speak out against the Jackdaw field as she so rightly did on the controversial Cambo field.
“Every new fossil fuel project the UK Government supports takes us further away from a fair and fast transition for workers and communities currently reliant on the oil and gas sector.”
A Shell spokesman said: “Jackdaw is expected to produce 6.5 per cent of the UK’s North Sea gas – enough to heat 1.4 million homes – with operational emissions of less than one per cent of the whole basin.
"It would help secure fuel supplies that UK homes and businesses will still rely on for years, while Shell and others scale up low-carbon solutions of the future. These include a planned carbon capture and storage facility where Jackdaw’s gas will come ashore.
"More widely, we are planning to invest £20-25 billion in the UK energy system over the next decade – more than 75% of this will be in low and zero-carbon, including offshore wind, hydrogen and electric mobility.”
