Licensed Oil and Gas Fields: Emissions

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb]

To ask His Majesty’s Government how they plan to assess the ‘scope 3 emissions’ of licensed oil and gas fields, and what impact they have on their emission reduction targets.

[The Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government have consulted on supplementary environmental guidance relating to emissions from burning extracted oil and gas. We are working towards publication of finalised guidance as soon as possible. Emissions produced by burning oil and gas are accounted for in our domestic targets for the sectors which use these fuels. Emissions are not accounted for in carbon budgets if this fuel is burned outside the United Kingdom.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, I am sure the whole House will be with me in expressing concern about the collision in the North Sea and in sending hope to the rescue services, the sailors and, of course, all marine life.

I thank the Minister for his Answer. That was exactly what I was concerned about. Once the gas and oil are extracted, the total emissions should then be accounted for, on the assumption that it will all be burned, whether or not it is exported or moved somewhere else.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, first, I join the noble Baroness in expressing my sympathy to all concerned in the tragic events that have taken place in the North Sea. I also agree with her that we should pay tribute to the emergency services—and, of course, we are very concerned about the environmental impact.

I ought to explain to the House that scope 1 emissions are direct company emissions that occur from sources owned or controlled by the company. Scope 2 are indirect emissions resulting from generation of purchased energy, typically electricity, or purchased heat. Scope 3 are all indirect emissions not included in scope 2 that occur in the value chain of the reporting company and include downstream and upstream emissions—if noble Lords wished to know what those scopes were.

The point here is that we would be double-counting the emissions—or that is the risk—if we went down the route that the noble Baroness suggests. We had this consultation in the light of the Finch judgment, because we needed to revise the environmental impact assessment to take account of scope 3 emissions. We are carefully considering the consultation at the moment, and it would be premature for me to say anything more at this stage.