Climate groups in Gwynedd will be marching in Bangor on Saturday 28 October, to demand the Westminster government revoke the decision to approve the new Rosebank offshore development.
The oil field , backed by oil giant Equinor, would be the biggest in the North Sea, and would see the UK government going back on their net zero targets, and would mean it would be even more unlikely that the UK could reach their legally agreed net zero targets.
The event in Bangor organised by Extinction Rebellion Bangor is part of a national day of action by more than 100 organisations, including Friends of the Earth, The Quakers, RSPB, Extinction rebellion, and UNISON calling on Rishi Sunak to scrap Rosebank and move away from polluting, climate wrecking oil and gas and instead set the UK on a trajectory for a cleaner more secure future.
The climate impacts of the emissions from burning oil and gas from Rosebank would be would be more than the annual CO2 emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries combined. In other words, this one UK field would produce more pollution than the world’s 700 million poorest people produce in a whole year.
Rowan Thompson, a gardener from Penmachno, said: “I’m joining the protest against Rosebank’s drilling for oil because it won’t do anything to lower our energy bills, or make our energy supply safer. In fact, a project like Rosebank is designed to make oil giants even richer at our expense. New fields only make us more dependent on expensive, polluting oil and gas for longer, when we should be investing in renewable energy instead.”
Francis Taylor, a retired teacher, of Groeslon, said: “At a time when so many households across the UK are struggling with the cost of living, Rosebank’s owners Equinor and Ithaca Energy are set to receive a tax break worth £3.75 billion. Rosebank oil is 90 percent for export. The best way to secure energy and to bring down bills is to rapidly expand energy efficiency measures, whilst boosting reliable and cheap renewables that are in harmony with nature’s recovery”
Ayeisha Hughes, a Disability Needs Assessor from Llanberis, said: “This is the biggest oil field yet, and every new oil field pushes us closer to our world becoming uninhabitable. Scientists have said time and again that we can’t have any new oil and gas if we want to stay within safe climate limits. Spending billions of tax-payers money on this delays the transition away from fossil fuels to decent green jobs.
“Join us at Bangor Clock Tower at 12:00pm on Saturday 28th October for a march in solidarity with actions taking place all across the UK to ask for no more tax breaks for oil giants, and no more skyrocketing energy bills. Everyone is welcome. You are invited to wear black and bring with you a rose or placard.”
