Rosebank owner got a terrifying Halloween surprise over its sham renewable energy claims

Mothers Rise Up, a group of UK mothers gravely concerned about the climate crisis, held an interactive Halloween-themed action outside Equinor’s HQ in London. They were highlighting the company’s sham renewable energy claims – not least against the backdrop of its involvement with Rosebank, the so-called ‘climate bomb’ project.

Equinor: scary renewables claims don’t hold up

The creative, family-friendly and peaceful street action included a giant Equinor-fuelled cauldron, filled with children playing as their future was ‘cooked’ by a menacing, oily fossil fuel wizard:

Children around the cauldron were dressed as wind turbines and the planet Earth, contrasting the fossil fuel industry’s ‘tricks’ with the clean energy ‘treats’ all children deserve:

Ahead of Halloween, Mothers Rise Up is calling on oil and gas giant, Equinor, to stop its dirty tricks. Equinor brands itself as a ‘broad energy company’, but the reality is that in 2023 just 0.15% of its total energy production came from renewable sources.

The creative action highlighted the pressing need to overturn the decision permitting the Rosebank oil and gas field:

Rosebank: a house of horrors

The original decision was granted in 2023 by the Sunak government.

Two legal cases brought by Greenpeace and Uplift, are due to be heard in November 2024. The court cases challenge the decision to approve Rosebank and argue that the decisions of the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) were unlawful.

Across the world, countries and communities that have contributed the least to carbon pollution are facing the earliest and most severe impacts, from extreme heat waves in Asia to droughts in Africa.

Catastrophic storms and damaging weather fronts are increasing. Hurricane Helene struck the U.S. earlier this month, and life-threatening flooding swept across Europe and even the Sahara, which has flooded for the first time in fifty years.

Adverse weather events are increasing in scale and regularity in recent years, caused by climate change, and specifically the relentless burning of fossil fuels. In fact, Hurricane Helene was made around 10% more intense due to climate change.

If burning fossil fuels continues and global temperatures rise to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, devastating climate events like Hurricane Helene will become up to 25% more likely, and millions more children will suffer:

Equinor is making a killing

Rosebank is in a complex and costly extraction area. The field is predicted to produce 500 million barrels of mainly oil, and some gas. Rosebank reserves are, in fact, nearly 90% oil that is likely to be exported for sale on the international market, rather than help lower UK bills or improve energy security.

Enormous tax breaks will be gifted to Rosebank’s owners, Equinor and Ithaca Energy, to develop the field. Just last week, it was revealed that Equinor has benefited from an obscure tax loophole to the tune of £400 million – that same amount of money is enough to provide 158 million free school meals.

Crucially, more than 200m tonnes of CO2 will be produced from burning Rosebank’s reserves. This is greater than the annual total CO2 emissions of 28 low-income countries – the equivalent of 700m people.

Emma Powell from Mothers Rise Up said:

Rosebank must remain untouched. The science is clear that there must be no new oil and gas developed if we are to prevent the worst of climate breakdown.

The project will not lower energy bills for consumers nor make us energy-secure. However, Rosebank will boost profits for polluting oil and gas companies with gratuitous tax breaks while the climate and humanity suffer.

A green energy transition must be urgent, ambitious and fair for communities throughout the UK.

Our children, and all children, deserve a fighting chance at a liveable future.

Mari Nythun Utheim, Mothers Rebellion Norway said:

Last week, the UN Emissions Gap Report 2024 8 stated that, under current policies, the world is on track for a catastrophic 3.1 degrees of warming this century—a future that my children and grandchildren will have to face.

Meanwhile, another major Norwegian newspaper 9 features costly double-page ads from Equinor, proclaiming, ‘We will continue to search for more oil and gas.’

I cannot stand by as they put future generations at risk, all while using taxpayer money to spread their propaganda. Equinor’s actions threaten our climate and must be stopped, for the sake of our children’s future.

Featured image and additional images via Mothers Rise Up/Ron Fassbender