Activists disrupt luxury oil club dinner to protest expansion of North Sea oil and gas production

Friday 25th February 2022
Edinburgh, UK

Tonight at around 19.15, climate activists disrupted the Scottish Energy Forum annual dinner to protest against the expansion of North Sea oil and gas.

• Activists entered the building chanting “No Dinner for Killers”
• Activists are blocking the entrance forcing attendees to queue outside, unable to get in
• At the start of dinner, 3 activists glued themselves to the table on the stage chanting “No party for Climate Criminals”

Activists from groups including Extinction Rebellion Scotland and Stop Cambo have blocked the entrance to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and disrupted a lavish dinner celebration organised by the Scottish Energy Forum for the oil and gas industry.

Activists chanted and carried banners saying ‘No Dinner for Killers’ and ‘No Future in Fossils Fuels’. The protest also involved speakers and music.

The Scottish Energy Forum is lobbying to expand oil and gas production in the North Sea. The UK Government is currently consulting on the future of oil and gas [1] but ministers have indicated that they back the expansion of North Sea production [2].

This directly contradicts recommendations from the International Energy Agency [3], the UN and the UK government’s own climate change advisors.

In May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said there can be no new fossil fuel developments if the world is to reach net zero by 2050. [4]

The UN Secretary General said the latest report from the IPCC “must sound a death knell” for fossil fuels and that countries should “end all new fossil fuel exploration and production” [5].

The UK Government’s own advisors, the Committee on Climate Change, yesterday called for a “presumption against exploration” adding that “any increases in UK extraction of oil and gas would have, at most, a marginal effect on the prices faced by UK consumers in future.” [6]

Lauren MacDonald, an organiser of the Stop Cambo campaign, said:

“In the midst of alarming weather disasters and countless warnings from climate scientists, the fossil fuel industry continues its hedonistic lust for profit.

Millions across the UK are currently facing skyrocketing energy costs caused by our reliance on gas. Meanwhile, fossil fuel executives celebrate record profits at this dinner party.

This is a total insult to the people. Time and time again fossil fuel executives prove their total lack of regard for our lives and the planet – this industry is ready to burn every last drop of oil as long as it makes the richest in society even richer. Those in power are not coming to save us, so we need to take matters into our own hands. We need to save ourselves and put an end to oil and gas extraction. We will not allow them to party whilst the world burns.”

Alex Cochrane, an activist from Extinction Rebellion Scotland said:

“Fossil fuel executives are openly celebrating their record-breaking profits rather than urgently acting to change their catastrophic business model. They make vast profits yet they only invest a fraction of that in renewable energy. They enjoy generous subsidies and tax breaks while ordinary families face huge increases in energy prices and vulnerable communities have to cope with the impact of climate chaos, such as flooding.

Expanding North Sea gas and oil production is a colossal failure of global leadership from the UK Government who just months ago claimed climate leadership as the hosts of the UN climate summit COP26. They are failing to act and it is people who are suffering, especially in the global south.”

End

Images

Images from the protest will be uploaded to this folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XfPs8HXoPNNy_jKR6nQZfxNLqbE1TQOb?usp=sharing

* Unless otherwise indicated, please credit Extinction Rebellion Scotland *

Note to editors

[1] UK government seeks views on new oil and gas climate checkpoint: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-seeks-views-on-new-oil-and-gas-climate-checkpoint

[2] UK government to allow new North Sea oil and gas exploration
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/24/uk-government-to-allow-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-exploration

[3]  International Energy Agency report: https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

[4] No new oil, gas or coal development if world is to reach net zero by 2050, says world energy body: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/18/no-new-investment-in-fossil-fuels-demands-top-energy-economist

[5] Secretary-General’s statement on the IPCC Working Group 1 Report on the Physical Science Basis of the Sixth Assessment:
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/secretary-generals-statement-the-ipcc-working-group-1-report-the-physical-science-basis-of-the-sixth-assessment

[6] Letter: Climate Compatibility of New Oil and Gas Fields:
https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/letter-climate-compatibility-of-new-oil-and-gas-fields/

Please note: many statistics and links to sources on how much tax oil companies pay and how much profit they make can be found on the Paid To Pollute website.

About Scottish Energy Forum

The Scottish Energy Forum was previously known as The Scottish Oil Club. Its members include Shell, BP, Siccar Point, Total, Ineos, Equinor, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Natwest, Barclays, Lloyds and Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde and Edinburgh Universities.

About Stop Cambo

The Stop Cambo campaign is a campaign made up of many individuals, organisations and grassroots groups across the UK and the rest of the world targeting the Cambo oil field which was due to open off the coast of Shetland. The campaign successfully applied enough pressure through protests, non-violent action, media and petitions to make Shell pull out of the Cambo field and as a result Siccar Point have paused all plans to operate there for several years. Stop Cambo are now campaigning to stop further new oil and gas fields in the North Sea and to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels which centres on the needs and concerns of workers in that industry.

About Extinction Rebellion Scotland

Extinction Rebellion Scotland is a non-violent direct-action movement formed to take urgent action in the face of climate emergency and ecological catastrophe, as part of the global justice movement.

Our demands, issued as a Declaration of Rebellion to the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government on 24th November 2018, are as follows;

1. That the Scottish Government tell the truth about the climate and wider ecological emergency, acknowledge and reverse any policies that help drive the climate crisis, and commit to enabling a rapid and just transition to a sustainable and fair society.
2. That the Scottish Government enact legally binding policy measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025, including by replacing a system based on accelerating consumption with one based on ensuring the wellbeing of all.
3. The creation of a legally binding Scottish Climate Citizens’ Assembly to oversee the changes, as part of creating a democracy fit for purpose and a society that cares for all.