Many thanks, Andrew!
13.02.2026 13:05
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Many thanks, Andrew!
Apropos of nothing, nothing at all, you should follow @tessakhan.bsky.social and @zoeavison.bsky.social. For all the hard truths and realism you need about the North Sea
Last year Scotland's only oil refinery closed at Grangemouth, leading to more than 400 job losses and threatening thousands more. I worked with @riyokoshibe.bsky.social interviewing Grangemouth workers as they faced redundancy. On Tuesday we're presenting research at MMU in Manchester. Come along!
Missions succeed when public finance delivers public value.
While the UK is on track to deliver its Clean Power mission w its expansion in offshore wind, it must learn from the failures of PFI era and financialisation of utilities like Thames Water: don’t socialise risks & privatise rewards.
6️⃣ So many benefits will flow if we break free from business-as-usual.
Here is energy expert @tessakhan.bsky.social explaining why a renewables-based energy system is so superior.
Yes, the Government is pushing to green our grid, but that is only around a fifth of our energy use.
#NEB2025
New post just out:
"Power to the People"
Today we have a guest post from @jamestplunkett.bsky.social on how Labour can counter the "Britain is Broken" narrative by investing in civic life and giving people more control over their community.
(Free to read)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/p...
Very helpful thread ⬇️
Great to see!!
Have to take a moment to celebrate this historic win for the climate. Even though everyone knows it’s needed, it’s no small thing to commit to leaving fossil fuels in the ground.
Epic work from the likes of Uplift and a Secretary of State who is doing the absolute best he can with what he’s got.
Here's my take: bsky.app/profile/tess...
All up, this is a major break from past approaches to the N Sea, which have left industry in charge & hoped for the best. That approach has devastated communities & led to companies laying off workers while making huge profits. There's much more to do but this at least feels like a new start.
/END
The plan establishes a North Sea Future Board w union representation to oversee delivery. The Board is tasked with doing more to support the supply chain. It’s crucial that the Board, which should also include the Scottish gov, strengthens the overall plan for North Sea workers and communities.
/11
There's also been a recognition that for offshore wind to create jobs at scale, we need to ramp up manufacturing, upgrade port infrastructure, as well as support workers to redeploy in new sectors & ensure supply chains can pivot. The new plan doesn't get us there & needs to go much further
/10
The UK govt deserves some credit for recognising there's a need for a plan & taking big steps forward in the last year, including its Clean Energy Jobs Plan, which was welcomed by trade unions & recognises the need & potential for the transition to deliver good jobs in the UK's O&G heartlands
/9
It is a historic and hugely welcome development for a significant oil & gas producing country, a G7 economy & a country with significant historical responsibility for the climate crisis to take this step.
Now onto the just transition part of the plan...
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Although we've repeatedly said new licensing won't do anything for jobs (jobs supported by the sector have halved in a decade despite 100s of new licences being issued) nor energy security given how little gas is left, this is also a line that desperately needs to be drawn for a safe climate.
/7
The v big news is that the govt has jettisoned the principal objective of "maximising economic recovery of offshore oil & gas" for the O&G regulator (the NSTA), replacing it with objectives that align with the govts broader socio-economic & climate objectives. An eminently sensible, welcome move
/6
...lead to 45 mill barrels of oil equivalent in total. If they're all developed, which is unlikely. Given the Rosebank oil field is 500 mill barrels, this is a comparatively marginal amount of resource. Plus the govt has confirmed that it won't issue licences for onshore O&G anymore either.
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The plan includes a new instrument called a Transitional Energy Certificate, which effectively will enable already-discovered resources to be developed if they're linked to an existing field and needed for a managed transition. Our calculation is that these tie-backs would, at most...
/4
After 50 years of drilling here, this is a huge step. The gov states "alongside meeting our moral obligation to support today’s workers, we must also meet our moral obligation towards future generations by helping to tackle the climate crisis".
/3
Following a public consultation, the UK gov has published its North Sea Future Plan. It includes both detail on its approach to new oil & gas exploration licensing AND details on its support for the O&G workforce & communities. The headline is that there will be no new exploration licences issued
/2
Huge news from the UK today: after UN climate talks in which there was a massive fight over language on fossil fuels, the UK government today announced that it will in fact be keeping many millions of barrels of oil & gas in the ground. Deeds rather than just words for a change! 🧵
Now discussing Jobs and Skills with @tessakhan.bsky.social, Richard Hardy of TU Prospect, Kenny MacInnis, Forth Valley College & Claire Mack of Scottish Renewables...
🔈We've got two exciting short-term opportunities at Uplift: a 3-month research consultancy to start ASAP and a 6-month policy advisor role starting in January 2026. Get in touch with any Qs!
More details on our website: www.upliftuk.org/jobs
Delighted to have contributed to this important report with a piece on a fairer approach to taxing North Sea oil & gas. In short, we need tax policy that's aligned with the govt's clean energy & climate goals & that serves the long-term interests of the workforce, communities & the broader public.
The only alternative is ambitious planning & investment in clean energy jobs, plus robust transition support for oil & gas workers. There are finally signs that change might be on its way, but there is no margin for error and governments have to get this right urgently. END
The SAC is right to raise the dire situation currently faced by many energy workers, but concluding we should slow the transition down makes a failed transition seem inevitable when it is not. We know the status quo (& more o&g licensing) will not meaningfully stem the decline in jobs. /8
...not just of government promises, but also of industry's. After all, O&G companies have made record profits in recent years while jobs and job quality have declined & have blamed high taxes for job losses even while they pay their shareholders millions. /7 www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...
Workers & communities, esp in the north-east, are understandably cynical. People have heard promises of green jobs for years that haven't materialised & have had little support as jobs supported by oil & gas have gone into freefall. There is every reason to be sceptical.../6
But if govts get that right then the path to scaling up CE jobs at a pace that offsets the ongoing decline of O&G jobs in Scotland is wide open, as academics have concluded. It is not too late but it requires more of this kind of ambitious planning, backed by investment, by both governments.
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