Strict climate change test specifications: EIR release

Information requested

Appearing on the BBC Question Time programme on 6th February 2024, the Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, said the Scottish Government’s position is that new oil & gas licences in the North Sea should only be granted if they are compatible with a strict climate change test.

Please provide the specifications of the strict climate change test mentioned by Kate Forbes.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

The answer to your question is that decisions on offshore oil & gas licensing and consenting are reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government has called, including through its draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, for a robust Climate Compatibility Checkpoint to be applied to new North Sea oil and gas developments. The draft Strategy (published here - Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) set out for consultation a range of proposals on aspects of Checkpoint design and application. Independent analysis commissioned by the Scottish Government (published here – Energy system and Just Transition: independent analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) in support of the draft Strategy also included consideration of what tests could potentially make up such a Checkpoint – with robust climate compatibility and energy security being key considerations.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.