The chief executive of EDF has backed the development of two controversial North Sea oil and gas fields, describing government approval of the projects as a “no-brainer” as ministers weigh their future.
Simone Rossi, chief executive of EDF, said Rosebank, Britain’s largest untapped oil field, and the Jackdaw gas field should be developed despite legal challenges that have halted work on both projects.
The fields have become a focal point in the UK’s debate over energy security and the transition away from fossil fuels. Industry leaders and trade unions have argued that domestic production can support jobs, tax revenues and energy security, while climate campaigners have called for restrictions on new North Sea drilling to remain.
Former energy minister Ed Miliband previously described Rosebank as “climate vandalism”.
The final decision now rests with the government, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledging to take a “pragmatic approach” to the future of the North Sea.
Asked whether Rosebank and Jackdaw should be approved, Rossi told the BBC: “Green light. Absolutely. No doubt about it.”
He argued that although the UK should ultimately transition towards an electricity-based energy system, the country remained dependent on oil and gas and should make use of domestic resources during that transition.
“Here and now, certainly we should use all the fossil fuel resources that we’ve got in our country,” he said.
“You’d rather use the money to create jobs in our economy and tax receipts in our economy as opposed to sending it elsewhere.”
Rossi also argued that producing oil and gas close to the UK could have a lower environmental impact than transporting supplies from overseas.
“This is also good for the planet because producing oil or gas just next to the UK shore is less polluting than having to transport it from further afield,” he said.
“So that’s a no-brainer.”
Asked whether the summer’s wildfires and heatwaves should be viewed as a warning against continued fossil fuel production, Rossi rejected the suggestion that domestic production would materially alter the global climate trajectory.
“No matter what we do, that’s going to happen, unfortunately, because climate change is driven by global dynamics,” he said.
The EDF chief pointed to the UK’s continuing reliance on fossil fuels, noting that most homes are still heated by gas and most cars continue to run on petrol or diesel.
“It will take decades to wean off that dependency,” he said.
“So whilst this is happening, we should rather use the resources that we’ve got rather than importing them from afar.”
“For me, it’s really a no-brainer. It is not in contradiction. By doing so we’re not making the planet any worse. In fact, we are making it better.
“We are also improving our own economy.”
Rossi said electricity would ultimately provide the foundation of the UK’s energy system, with heat pumps and electric vehicles offering more efficient alternatives to gas heating and conventional cars.
Electricity generation could also increasingly be located within Britain, reducing dependence on imported energy, he said.
But Rossi warned against setting overly aggressive targets for decarbonisation if they risked increasing costs for consumers and businesses.
The government plans for the electricity grid to operate on 95 per cent clean power by 2030. Rossi argued that the final stages of decarbonisation would be particularly expensive and questioned whether the target would necessarily translate into lower household bills.
He also suggested that the pace of the transition could conflict with the government’s ambitions to rebuild Britain’s industrial base.
“I think that it is a very noble ambition to have, and it certainly sparks a dynamic that otherwise maybe wouldn’t have been there,” he said.
“But I think the pace of this transition is a key element that we need to master in order to ensure that the costs are reasonable.”
“To reduce the last amount of carbon in the economy is the most expensive bit.”
Rossi said Britain had already made significant progress in cutting emissions and should remain ambitious while avoiding an excessive focus on eliminating the final amounts of carbon by fixed deadlines.
“We’ve already done a lot in Britain, maybe more than most,” he said.
“I think we should be quite happy about what we’ve done, certainly remain ambitious in trying to do more.”
“But obsessively trying to eliminate the last molecule of carbon by a certain date is not going to do any good in terms of making the electricity system cheaper.”
The government has described the North Sea as a “vital national asset” and said oil and gas “will continue to play an important role in our energy system for decades to come” as Britain moves towards cleaner sources of power.
The future of Rosebank and Jackdaw therefore sits at the intersection of three competing priorities: domestic energy security, the cost of the transition and the government’s climate objectives.
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