Rosebank will contribute to multiple human rights violations as a result of climate change. Rosebank is the largest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea, and like all fossil fuel expansion projects it will contribute to driving global heating. As such, the human rights to life, water and sanitation, health, food, a healthy environment, an adequate standard of living, housing, property, culture, self-determination and development will be violated for  countless individuals. As the 2021 landmark  court ruling against Shell confirmed, fossil fuel companies are a major cause of catastrophic climate change that puts people’s lives at risk and thereby violate basic human rights. Climate change caused by the fossil fuel industry particularly threatens the rights of women, indigenous communities and all communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction. 

Oil and gas production in the North Sea has been billed as the solution to the current energy crisis and war in Ukraine. However, fossil fuel expansion in the North Sea will not provide energy security or affordable prices for UK citizens. Not only is the majority of North Sea oil & gas exported, but new fields will take years to be developed, and lock the UK into? fossil fuel insecurity.

Climate-related catastrophes will be exacerbated by Rosebank, because it represents an expansion of the fossil fuel industry. In 2021, the International Energy Agency stated there is “no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway”. Developing a massive new field like Rosebank is therefore  clearly incompatible with limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5C. Rosebank is the largest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea, estimated to contain approximately 500 million barrels of oil equivalent according to Rystad Energy data. Its emissions would be more than the combined emissions of all low income countries in the world.