PM urged to uphold climate pledges made as mayor and ban new North Sea oil drilling

An oil rig in the North Sea. Andy Burnham’s government is under pressure from the fossil fuel industry to allow new drilling at the Jackdaw and Rosebank oilfields. Photograph: Rick Wood Photography/Alamy View image in fullscreen An oil rig in the North Sea. Andy Burnham’s government is under pressure from the fossil fuel industry to allow new drilling at the Jackdaw and Rosebank oilfields. Photograph: Rick Wood Photography/Alamy PM urged to uphold climate pledges made as mayor and ban new North Sea oil drilling Experts who helped Burnham draw up Manchester carbon neutral pledge say backtracking would send wrong message amid wildfires and heatwaves Europe wildfires – latest updates Leading climate scientists who created Greater Manchester’s carbon neutral by 2038 commitment are urging Andy Burnham to unequivocally reject new drilling in the North Sea. In a letter to the prime minister they said he, as previous mayor of Greater Manchester, had unveiled one of the UK’s most ambitious local climate programmes that tackled housing, green growth and public transport. Reports over the weekend continued to suggest Burnham was set to give the green light to controversial new drilling in the North Sea by approving the Jackdaw and Rosebank oilfields, which were previously given approval under the Conservatives but put on hold by legal action. The ruling in court said a more detailed assessment of the environmental impact was required to take into account the effect on the climate of burning any fossil fuels extracted. Prof Kevin Anderson and scientists from the Tyndall Centre at the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester, who wrote the open letter to the prime minister, said it was “with considerable concern” that they had read reports suggesting his government intended to approve the further development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields. To do so would send a signal around the world that the UK was backtracking on its international climate commitments, they said. Burnham risks Labour backlash if he reverses ban on new oil and gas drilling Read more If the reports were accurate that he intended to give the go ahead to drilling at Jackdaw and Rosebank, the scientists wrote, “they represent a profound departure from the principles you promoted as Mayor of Greater Manchester”. Labour made a manifesto promise that no new oil and gas licences would be issued, but Jackdaw and Rosebank were already in the system at the time of the last general election. A consultation on Jackdaw will finish on 8 August. With extreme heat and wildfires across the UK and Europe this summer, the academics said the evidence showed global emissions must be cut by 8% every year if the world was to meet the upper limit of a maximum of 2C of heating in the Paris climate agreement. Anderson and his colleagues urged Burnham to adhere to commitments he made when announcing the Greater Manchester carbon neutral by 2038 policy. They undertook the carbon budget analys