ACTIVISTS have disrupted an annual event for the oil and gas sector in Edinburgh by entering the building chanting “no dinner for killers”.
Campaigners from groups including Stop Cambo and Extinction Rebellion Scotland targeted the Scottish Energy Forum dinner in an effort to protest against the expansion of North Sea oil and gas production.
While some activists entered the building itself, others blocked the entrance – forcing attendees to queue outside, unable to get in.
A rally also took place outside of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre venue, with speakers discussing the climate crisis, music, and chanting from the crowd.
The Scottish Energy Forum was previously known as the Scottish Oil Club, but changed its name in 2019 to better reflect its “standing as a cross-sector body”. Members of the group include representatives from Shell, BP, Total, Ineos, Barclays and Strathclyde and Edinburgh Universities.
The protesters targeted the group amid a UK Government consultation on the future of oil and gas in the UK, which comes after ministers already indicated their support expanding production.
After the publication of the last IPCC report in 2021, the UN’s Secretary General warned that it “must sound a death knell” for fossil fuels and called on countries around the world to end new fossil fuel exploration and production.
And on Thursday, the UK Government’s own Committee on Climate Change advisers called for a “presumption against exploration”, warning that increasing extraction would have a “marginal” effect on prices faced by consumers “at most”.
Lauren MacDonald, a Stop Cambo organiser, attacked the oil and gas industry for continuing its “hedonistic lust for profit”.
She commented: “Millions across the UK are currently facing skyrocketing energy costs caused by our reliance on gas. Meanwhile, fossil fuel executives celebrate record profits at this dinner party.
“This is a total insult to the people. Time and time again fossil fuel executives prove their total lack of regard for our lives and the planet – this industry is ready to burn every last drop of oil as long as it makes the richest in society even richer. Those in power are not coming to save us, so we need to take matters into our own hands. We need to save ourselves and put an end to oil and gas extraction. We will not just allow them to party whilst the world burns.”
Meanwhile, Alex Cochrane, an Extinction Rebellion Scotland activist, said: “Fossil fuel executives are openly celebrating their record-breaking profits rather than urgently acting to change their catastrophic business model. They make vast profits yet they only invest a fraction of that in renewable energy. They enjoy generous subsidies and tax breaks while ordinary families face huge increases in energy prices and vulnerable communities have to cope with the impact of climate chaos, such as flooding.
“Expanding North Sea gas and oil production is a colossal failure of global leadership from the UK Government who just months ago claimed climate leadership as the hosts of the UN climate summit COP26. They are failing to act and it is people who are suffering, especially in the global south.”
The Scottish Energy Forum was contacted for comment.
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