Ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has signed a 250-strong petition of faith leaders and experts opposing the controversial Rosebank oil field off the Scottish coast.
The high-profile church leader is among the signatories of a new letter to Keir Starmer urging the PM to pull the plug on the North Sea scheme. Other groups who have signed the letter include the Catholic Church, the Scottish Episcopal Church, a raft of eco groups from Scotland and beyond and senior doctors and academics.
TV doctor Chris Van Tulleken, of BBC’s ‘Trust Me, I’m a Doctor’ programme, also added his name to the calls to ditch the drilling project planned 80 miles off Shetland. It’s thought Rosebank could contain up to 500million barrels of oil.
Activists claim it would emit more carbon than the world’s 28 poorest nations combined. However, Norwegian oil giant Equinor which is behind the scheme insists it is vital for UK energy security.
It comes as the new Labour government has said it won’t contest a legal decision that the original move to approve Rosebank by the Tories last year was unlawful – paving the way for a courtroom battle next month that could kill the project off. In their letter to Starmer, organised by the Stop Rosebank campaign, signatories called for the Prime Minister to organise a “phase out” of oil and gas in favour of a “properly funded just transition” to green energy.
Lauren MacDonald, Lead Campaigner at Stop Rosebank said: “The Rosebank project is a disaster for our climate and a bad deal for the public. It won’t do anything to lower fuel bills or increase our energy security as most of it will be exported. It will only make even more profits for obscenely rich oil and gas companies.
“The effects of climate change are now clear to us all – the intense rainfall and flooding we’ve recently had here and in Europe will only be made worse and become more frequent as long as we keep burning oil and gas. People who are being impacted up and down the country are asking why on earth we’re continuing to develop massive new oil projects like Rosebank, when we know it will only put us in more danger.”
TV’s Van Tulleken added: “I see firsthand the devastating impact that climate change has on human health. From rising respiratory diseases caused by air pollution to the growing threats of heatwaves, wildfires, and infectious diseases, the evidence is clear: we must stop our reliance on oil and gas if we are to protect public health and ensure a livable future.
“The shift toward clean energy isn’t just an environmental imperative —it’s a health emergency. We should be acting now by saying no to huge new oil fields like Rosebank in the North Sea.”
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