Fossil fuels will remain part of the energy mix for decades to come – if we don’t extract our own resources from the North Sea, our loss will be other polluters’ gain, says Andy Mayer

The new government’s plans to capitulate to the likes of Just Stop Oil by banning new drilling licences in the North Sea will do nothing to prevent climate change.

Global warming is driven mainly by the consumption of fossil fuels for energy not their extraction. The UK currently consumes 75-80 per cent of our primary energy in the form of fossil fuels and the world around 85 per cent. This is going to take a long time to change, with overall growth in the demand for energy, so far, marginalising the impact of otherwise impressive growth in alternatives.

Given that we will still be reliant on fossil fuels for several decades to come, any oil........

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