LONDON — The U.K. government has quietly handed ministers new powers to reverse flagship climate promises and approve new drilling for fossil fuels.
Under new guidance drawn up in Whitehall, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband can give weight to the “wider benefits to the interests of the nation,” alongside environmental concerns, when deciding the future of controversial oil and gas fields.
Miliband has long insisted the U.K. must wean itself off high-polluting fossil fuels produced in oil and gas heartlands off the Scottish coast and embrace clean energy, like solar and wind power. But experts believe the new powers, buried in guidance published this summer by Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, provide a loophole to approve more drilling.
The document says that, when deciding whether to approve drilling on licensed oil and gas fields, “the secretary of state will usually consider, amongst other matters … the government’s overall energy and environmental objectives, and the potential economic and other advantages of the project proceeding.”
