Recommendation 36

Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to deliver significant cuts in emissions by 2030 to meet the UK’s current Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, mandatory targets for the reduction of oil and gas operational emissions may well be more appropriate than voluntary targets. We therefore recommend that the Government, the regulator and the industry should review the provisions of the North Sea Transition Deal during the course of the fourth carbon budget (2023–2027), with a view to ensuring that they are still appropriate and sufficient to contribute to the UK’s obligations. If insufficient progress has been made on electrifying platforms and ending methane emissions during that budget period, we recommend that the Government should set mandatory upstream emissions reduction targets.