The Stop Rosebank campaign recently hosted a panel discussion on Monday 11November at the university´s Playfair Library.
Moderated by Frankie Boyle, comedian and supporter of the campaign, the panel at Monday’s gathering aimed to give more clarity about the case and Stop Rosebank’s motivations.
Other panellists included Dr. Ewan Gibbs, Energy Historian at the University of Glasgow; Tessa Khan, climate lawyer and executive director of Uplift UK; Lauren MacDonald, Lead Campaigner of Stop Rosebank; and Tommy Sheppard, the former SNP MP for Edinburgh East.
Rosebank is the UK’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field. Approved by the previous conservative government, it is located 80 miles off the Shetland coast, approved for development by Equinor in September 2023.
Stop Rosebank is a coordinated campaign against the development. The network is comprised of organisations, individual activists, celebrities, and academics from the UK.
Founded in 2021 after successfully halting the Cambo oil field, the network has since expanded its focus to opposing all new UK oil and gas projects, including Shell’s Jackdaw gas field and Equinor’s Rosebank oil field.
Their latest campaign took place between the 12th-15th November 2024 when they challenged Scotland’s Court of Session in Edinburgh. The legal challenge was jointly brought to the court via the environmental groups Greenpeace and Uplift UK. They claim the project does not align with the climate commitments that the UK government is legally bound by.
The case gained momentum after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in the “Finch case” in July 2024. The court sided with Sarah Finch, declaring that the government must consider the emissions from burning oil and gas—not just those from extraction—when assessing new oil and gas projects
According to the Guardian, one of the Stop Rosebank campaigners, Lauren MacDonald, explained to activists at the protest that winning this case would have substantial impact on the movement.
“As truly devastating as many things are in the world right now, in this little corner of the world, we are on the precipice of a massive, massive victory for the climate, and that is precisely because people have stood in the way,” she said.
“Every single fossil fuel project that we can stop, every single fraction is a degree of warming that we can stop. It’s countless lives saved, which will always, always be worth it.”
The Labour government withdrew their legal defence of the Rosebank gas fields. This, according to Greenpeace, should make it harder for Rosebank to go ahead.
The ruling is expected in early 2025.
“No New Oil – Stop Rosebank” by alisdare1 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.