A CHARITY has urged the Scottish Government to rule out support for new oil and gas fields after the UN warned that the world is set to breach a 1.5C global warming threshold.
Oxfam Scotland said Scottish ministers should “hold the line” against new oil and gas exploration when they publish the long-awaited Energy Strategy.
It comes after a United Nations report warned that the world is set to breach the internationally agreed 1.5C global warming threshold within the next few years.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said rising temperatures will exceed the threshold and warned that climate impacts will become increasingly severe and potentially irreversible with every fraction of a degree of additional warming.
The report said 1.5C is now "widely assessed as unavoidable".
It says urgent emissions cuts and a rapid transition away from fossil fuels are needed to minimise the scale and duration of the overshoot.
It comes after the First Minister’s Programme for Government on Tuesday, where John Swinney confirmed that the Scottish Government will publish its long-awaited Energy Strategy in this parliamentary term.
Campaigners have said the Energy Strategy must retain the Scottish Government's previously proposed presumption against new exploration for oil and gas, warning that any retreat would be incompatible with climate science and Scotland's climate ambitions.
They added that approving new oil and gas fields would do little to reduce energy bills or strengthen energy security, and that fuel from Rosebank or Jackdaw in the North Sea would be sold on international markets while the UK would continue to import oil and gas.
The most effective way to protect households from future energy price shocks, Oxfam said, would be to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by investing in clean renewable energy and making homes more energy efficient.
Swinney has previously been urged by environmental campaigners to oppose the approval of Rosebank.
Katherine May, head of Oxfam Scotland, said: "This new UN warning could not be clearer: the world is heading beyond the 1.5C global warming threshold. If we want to limit the damage, every fraction of a degree now matters.
"At a moment like this, governments should be accelerating away from fossil fuels, not looking for ways to justify more drilling.
"The Scottish Government has promised to publish a new Energy Strategy. When it does, Scottish Ministers must hold firm to their proposed presumption against new oil and gas exploration. The science is getting more alarming by the day.
“Backtracking now wouldn't be leadership, it would be surrendering Scotland’s climate credibility. Scotland's climate choices must not be dictated by those with a financial interest in keeping us hooked on fossil fuels."
Oxfam Scotland also called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to reject the proposed Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields.
"The Prime Minister has said the UK will rise to the climate challenge. Well, here's the challenge: Jackdaw and Rosebank must be rejected,” May added.
“This is a simple test of whether the UK Government's climate commitments are real or just rhetoric. If the Prime Minister approves new oil and gas fields in the face of yet another stark UN warning, nobody should take his climate promises seriously again.
"Communities in Scotland, across the UK and around the world are already paying the price of climate change through floods, fires and rising costs. The answer is not more filthy fossil fuels. It's investing in the clean energy future that people need and deserve."
