LONDON (Reuters) – Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday not to “simply go ahead and grant the permission” for the Cambo oilfield to start production, saying its licence needed to be reassessed.
The Cambo oilfield, in the North Sea off the Scottish island of Shetland, was handed licensing approval in 2001 and must now get permission to start production. Sturgeon said that initial decision should be reassessed against the background of more ambitious climate change targets.
Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party shares power with the Green Party in Scotland’s devolved parliament.
Britain wants to take a lead in efforts to cut emissions more quickly before the United Nations’ Climate Change conference, or COP26, in Scotland in November, but environmental groups have accused ministers of hypocrisy in even considering giving Cambo the green light.
“I’ve asked the prime minister not to simply go ahead and grant the permission to go ahead with production as a matter of course, that the licence should be reassessed against the same kind of climate requirements as new licences are going to be assessed,” Sturgeon told Sky News.
“I wouldn’t give the go ahead without a fundamental reassessment of the licence.”
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Alex Richardson)
