One of the heads of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas industry has said that forcing the net zero transition on people ultimately damages the global net zero journey.
Speaking at the UK’s International Energy Week conference in London today, David Whitehouse, who heads up Offshore Energy UK, re-affirmed the commitment of the oil and gas industry to driving an essential energy transition amidst a competitive economic environment.
“We recognise the need for change, but you will not de-carbonise through goodwill alone,” he said.
“We need to recognise that people need to make profits … “75 per cent of our energy comes from oil and gas, the same as it was 20 years ago and the reality is that people will use oil and gas beyond 2050.”
“Companies moving into new energies need oil and gas revenues to pull them along the way and it is about putting policies in place and making it attractive to invest in.”
Also on the panel session was Dr Grahame Buss, a 33-year Shell employee who worked his way up to the role of principal strategist for the oil and gas giant.
Buss, now a leading member of the anti-fossil fuel protest group Just Stop Oil, decried the position of the fossil fuel industry that they were just serving customers, a commitment that has seen them earn record profits for shareholders in recent years.
“‘We’re just meeting demand’ – that’s the drug dealer defence,” he said.
“No new oil and gas is the start of the start of a just transition, the solutions are already there. We know how we can make the transition.”
Whitehouse responded to Buss’ comments “What Grahame is talking about is imposing something on people, not taking them with them and that is what is slowing progress.”
“The oil and gas sector that I’ve worked in for thirty years is 200,000 decent people who care about the oil and gas sector just as much as Grahame does and I agree with his passion,” he said.
“I’m not passionate, I’m angry,” Buss responded.
The session followed an opening speech by shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband, where he put the conservative parties on blast for “inertia” on climate change action.