Sturgeon Opposes 2 North Sea Projects as UK Weighs Drilling Future

For climate and energy professionals, the Rosebank and Jackdaw consultations are not just licensing decisions—they signal whether the UK will hold a hard line against new fossil extraction or allow energy security arguments to override climate compatibility. Nicola Sturgeon's intervention from the Edinburgh International Book Festival frames this as a moment requiring political courage, not managed retreat.

Former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon used an Edinburgh International Book Festival appearance to inject a sharp moral and political argument into the UK's contested North Sea licensing debate, calling on politicians to have courage on climate change and stating plainly she does not believe new wells should be opened. The comments on 18 August 2026 come as Prime Minister Andy Burnham's Labour Government considers whether to approve the Rosebank oil field off Shetland and the Jackdaw gas field west of Aberdeen, with public consultations into both projects now closed. Her intervention crystallizes what is becoming one of the most consequential regulatory decisions for UK climate policy in 2026, pitting legacy fossil fuel interests, regional employment concerns and energy security arguments against the country's stated climate commitments.

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Nicola Sturgeon's intervention from the Edinburgh International Book Festival frames this as a moment requiring political courage, not managed retreat.

The Rosebank and Jackdaw projects have long been flashpoints. Environmental campaigners have mounted fierce opposition, while the oil and gas industry, much of it concentrated around Aberdeen and the surrounding area, has lobbied intensively for approval. Sturgeon acknowledged the human dimension, noting that a large number of workers in north-east Scotland depend on the energy industry, and conceded that her position puts her at odds with some people on her own side of politics. But she insisted it is important to say what you believe, and that with climate policy it is not easy right now to stand firm on what is necessary, yet it is absolutely essential. That tension - not merely between parties but inside the SNP and across Scotland - is central to the current regulatory puzzle.

Sturgeon's stance is anchored in her own record. In April 2019 she declared a climate emergency at the SNP conference, pledging that Scotland would live up to its responsibility to tackle it. During her tenure as first minister there was a presumption against new drilling for oil and gas. The current Scottish Government, however, has shifted that frame: its policy now says energy security must be taken into consideration alongside climate compatibility. That shift is not abstract. Jack Middleton, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central and a former adviser to both First Minister John Swinney and his predecessor Humza Yousaf, has publicly argued that Rosebank and Jackdaw should go ahead because they would benefit jobs and the economy. The result is an increasingly visible split between environmental priorities and just-transition anxieties, with the UK Government now holding the final lever.

For the Labour Government, the decision is a high-stakes test. Approving either Rosebank or Jackdaw would likely be read by climate advocates as the regression Sturgeon warned against, while rejecting them could sharpen accusations that government is ignoring energy security and employment in a region already tied to a mature and declining basin. The consultations have closed, which means the procedural window for public and stakeholder input has ended and the political and regulatory calculus now shifts to the final appraisal. Sturgeon's comment that the UK should absolutely not allow ourselves to regress over climate change offers a direct challenge to Burnham, a Labour Prime Minister whose government must reconcile investment in a managed transition with near-term economic and industrial pressures.