My name is Lauren MacDonald, I’m 23 years old and I’m from Glasgow, Scotland. Along with thousands of others, I was part of the successful campaign to stop Shell’s Cambo oil field – a huge proposed oil development off the coast of Scotland.

Last year, oil and gas giants announced record profits, whilst millions were being forced into fuel poverty caused by our dependence on fossil fuels. The UK government’s response? To quietly continue green-lighting more oil & gas projects in the North Sea, which will only boost their profits while doing nothing to lower energy bills. By approving these fields, the UK government has yet again placed the short-term profits of oil companies over the future of all life on earth.

And now, the UK government has green-lit the biggest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea: Rosebank. The climate impacts of Rosebank would be catastrophic: the emissions from burning its oil and gas would be more than the annual CO2 emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries combined. In other words, this one UK field would produce more pollution than the world’s 700 million poorest people produce in a whole year.

And Rosebank won’t do anything to lower our energy bills, or boost our energy security. In fact, a project like Rosebank will have next to no public benefit; all it will do is make a few oil companies even richer. Rosebank’s owners - including Norwegian oil giant Equinor - stand to get a tax break worth over half a billion pounds from the UK public, just for developing the field. 

It doesn’t end there. Rosebank is one of dozens of new fossil fuel projects that the UK government wants to approve before the next general election. This would lock us into an expensive, dirty energy source for decades longer than necessary. The fact that the vast bulk of these reserves are oil, which the UK exports overseas, means there is next to no public benefit from these projects. They absolutely can not be allowed to go ahead. 

The solution to today’s energy crisis – and how we will ensure we don’t experience future crises – is to move the UK away from volatile oil and gas through insulating our draughty homes and switching to affordable, homegrown renewables, which we are lucky to have in abundance. But instead of fixing our broken energy system, by taking action to boost energy efficiency and rollout renewables, the government is more focused on helping the oil and gas industry expand drilling.   

Millions of people in the UK now cannot afford to heat their homes because of soaring gas prices. The government needs to stop acting for the oil and gas companies and taking decisions that benefit their bottom line, and instead prioritise action that will bring down energy bills, which will help everyone.  

We all want a liveable future - one where we have safe, clean, affordable energy that doesn’t pollute our lungs, threaten the balance of nature, or push millions of people into poverty. Many people in the UK came together to fight Cambo. Now we’re demanding an end to all new fossil fuel extraction. 

We say no more. No more handouts for oil giants. No more skyrocketing energy bills. No more oil fields that ruin our chances at a liveable future.

I’m calling on the UK government to:

1. Reject all new and recently approved oil and gas fields and stop issuing licences for fossil fuel companies to search for more oil and gas.

2. Tax big polluters that made record profits this past year and use the money to support households across the UK.

3. Support oil and gas industry workers and affected communities to transition to renewable energy, making sure people can switch to sustainable, clean jobs as we move away from oil and gas. 

We know what we have to do, and we have the solutions we need to get there. All we’re missing is leaders willing to act. 

Will you sign this petition to protect our communities and future generations of people in the UK and across the world?