Oxford News
Expert Comment: Should the UK relax clean energy targets?
Dr Stuart Jenkins, Oxford Net Zero Research Fellow
Last week an Oxford Net Zero report laid out our views on the future for the global oil and gas sector. Helpfully for stimulating conversation, the next day the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) released their own policy brief discussing the challenges for the current UK energy strategy.
TBI’s brief suggests there are missed opportunities for UK oil and gas, which, if unlocked, would benefit the wider economy via energy security guarantees, private investment and growth, and increased tax revenues. They argue the UK should relax 2030 clean energy commitments and reduce the political barriers to new oil and gas investments – claiming these revisions would not unduly affect long-running net zero ambition in the UK.
These arguments rely on an overly simplified view of the UK’s energy supply-side, and risk giveaways for oil and gas with limited benefits for the UK economy. They are right that the UK’s energy strategy must strike a balance between maximising the returns on remaining fossil fuel assets today and developing future non-fossil assets for tomorrow.
There are several coordination challenges for net-zero-aligned energy supply. It’s not as simple as deploying renewables, and we do need to worry about the grid, local capacity in distribution networks, energy storage, intermittency, and financing electrification at the demand-side; as well, of course, as the reality on the ground in the rest of the world.
Naturally, the politics of these issues means that there are many possible framings for the future of oil and gas. Our recent research hints at several.
One credible future looks like this – ask license applicants to justify their proposal as viable, given the wind down of UK oil and gas more broadly, explain how the UK’s exposure to energy imports would meaningfully change under their proposal, and highlight how their proposal aligns with delivering net zero.
If they can do this, play ball.
This would be no easy ask for oil and gas producers. Our extracted oil and gas is largely sold overseas, weakening any claim that new extraction would support energy independence. And the oil and gas sector does not currently couple its business cases for net zero technology deployment with oil and gas expansion. But together they are key to demonstrating that any new oil and gas projects are not in conflict with our long-term energy and climate strategy.
It is also no easy task for the UK Government, who have assumed a portion of revenue from North Sea assets will be collected and available to the exchequer in the coming decades – this is something which the Treasury will want to protect. However, since the North Sea basins are already well known to be mature, and hence the tax take dwindling, the relative importance of this will decline over time as well.
From an energy strategy perspective, gas remains important for the UK given our reliance on it as a load-balancing fuel in the power sector, and in at least some home heating and industrial settings in the coming decades.
The UK’s exposure to gas imports is an important energy security challenge. This risk could be partly managed through North Sea supply if we also manage the risk of undermining climate policy through continued extraction. Oil will also become less strategic for the UK over time, although it will play a key role in the transition itself.
But arguments for new oil are more hampered by the fact that this extraction is likely to be sold overseas, reducing any case that it is in support of UK energy independence.
If changes to the energy strategy were accompanied by an update to the way we appraise oil and gas licenses, we would provide a world-leading framework for oil and gas to contribute to both the short- and long-term energy supply future for the UK.
There are several coordination challenges for net-zero-aligned energy supply. It’s not as simple as deploying renewables, and we do need to worry about the grid, local capacity in distribution networks, energy storage, intermittency, and financing electrification at the demand-side; as well, of course, as the reality on the ground in the rest of the world.
But these aren’t reasons to take a backward step on UK oil and gas, particularly when the majority of currently extracted products are sold overseas with limited benefit to UK taxpayers.
If changes to the energy strategy were accompanied by an update to the way we appraise oil and gas licenses, we would provide a world-leading framework for oil and gas to contribute to both the short- and long-term energy supply future for the UK.
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Oxford News
Katy Perry forced to cancel gig ahead of Blenheim Festival
The 41-year-old pop icon was due to perform at Werchter Boutique festival in Belgium last night, Saturday, June 28, when the event was unexpectedly cut short.
The festival’s committee decided to end the day’s performances early, at 9pm just after a set from Pitbull, due to a weather forecast of ‘severe thunderstorms from midnight onwards at the earliest’ and a government warning.
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Perry wrote on Instagram: “Sadly my set at Werchter Boutique tonight can’t happen due to a government mandated cancellation because of the incoming inclement weather and crowd safety concerns.
“I was backstage at the show in the middle of hair and makeup when this news was delivered, and they gave me no choice.
“I am just as unhappy as you are. Unfortunately this is beyond my control, but the safety of all 55,000 of you always comes first and foremost.”
The performance was due to mark the popstar’s return to the one-day event held in Belgium’s Festivalpark for the first time in more than 15 years.
READ MORE: Sara Cox in new venture as UK charity collapses with £430k owed
Perry added: “I am sorry I can’t change the weather, and even sorrier that all of us can’t be together tonight. I was looking forward to being back after 17 years, I was even gonna wear the same outfit from that 2009 show again. I love you all, and please get home safe.”
It comes just a week before the star’s next scheduled festival appearance, at the brand-new Blenheim Festival in Wodostock, Oxfordshire, where she is due to perform on July 4.
The current forecast for that date is sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-20s.
Oxford News
BBOWT shares tips for helping wild bees this summer
CAN you imagine summer without the sight of bumblebees buzzing from flower to flower, or a summer lunch without juicy tomatoes or strawberries?
If we don’t help our wild bees, this could be a glimpse of the future.
Our bees are in trouble.
Bees pollinate flowers, but also many of our favourite food crops, equivalent to every third mouthful of food we eat.
But they’re losing the habitat and plants they need to survive.
In the countryside, 97 per cent of lowland meadow has already been lost and the dramatic decrease in suitable habitats isn’t just confined to rural areas.
Gardens used to act as ‘green corridors’ for wildlife to move around towns and cities, and into and out of urban areas, but are increasingly being paved over or even covered with fake grass – with no real plants at all.
Helping bees is easy though.
Anyone can take action to help wild bees whether you have a wall for vertical planting, window box, or back garden.
It’s easy to plant a bee haven and fun choosing between bee-friendly beauties like borage, foxglove and honeysuckle.
There are 15 million gardens in the UK.
Put together they cover an area that’s seven times the size of the Isle of Wight.
If we all made our gardens more bee-friendly it would have a huge impact on our wild bees.
So, what should you plant in your garden?
Bees need a supply of pollen and nectar throughout the year, from late winter/early spring when some emerge from their winter hibernation right through until the end of the year.
Plant a selection of perennials, such as bergamot, globe thistle and knapweeds, for pollen through the summer.
These will provide bees with food year after year.
Add a few annuals each year, such as borage, cornflower and sunflower for variety.
Later in the autumn, hebe and ivy provide food when summer plants have gone to seed.
Then make sure you’ve got a few winter-flowering crocuses and hellebores to help bees as they emerge on warmer winter or early spring days in need of food after their winter hibernation.
Did you know there are around 250 species of bee in the UK?
Just one species of bee, the honeybee, actually makes honey.
Then there are bumblebees, which are familiar to most of us, and many different kinds of solitary bee.
Solitary bees are fantastic pollinators for our garden plants.
They don’t live in colonies, but instead the females make their own nest without any ‘workers’ to help them.
Some make their nests in gaps in the walls of old buildings or dig holes in bare ground (look for small piles of earth with a tiny hole in the middle).
You can help some species of solitary bee in your garden by providing a ‘bee hotel’.
Cut lengths of old bamboo and tie together, or drill long holes in old pieces of wood.
Hang somewhere sunny and sheltered and, in time, the bees will move in.
The exposed cliffs at BBOWT’s Dry Sandford Pit nature reserve near Abingdon are a haven for many types of solitary bee, which burrow into the soft, sandy layers.
Look for the ‘honeycomb’ of tiny holes.
You may see the UK’s newest bumblebee in your garden – the tree bumblebee.
These were first recorded here in 2001 but they’ve now spread throughout much of England and Wales.
They have a distinctive ginger-coloured back (thorax) and black and white abdomen.
Some make their homes in old bird nest boxes as they prefer to nest above the ground.
Help ensure our bees’ survival by making your garden bee-friendly this summer.
You’ll be making a real difference to our bees and helping to ensure our summer strawberries are here to stay.
Find out more about bees and how to help them at bbowt.org.uk/different-kinds-bees.
Oxford News
Buckland Primary School Weins Homes Badbury Green village
Year Six pupils from Buckland Primary School visited Wain Homes’ Badbury Green site to learn about the housebuilding process and future career opportunities.
During the visit, students explored the stages of construction, the importance of green spaces, and the wide variety of roles available in the industry.
James Stevens, class teacher at Buckland Primary School, said: “Thank you to the Wain Homes team for giving our children an enjoyable and informative experience in a way they could easily understand.
“The children now have knowledge of how the homes they live in are built and some of the careers they may be interested in as they get older. They particularly enjoyed looking round the show homes and having a go at laying some bricks.”
The pupils toured two show homes and tried their hand at bricklaying.
A time capsule, filled with children’s notes describing life in 2026, was also buried during the visit, set to be be opened in 2076.
Tim Lund, regional sales director at Wain Homes, said: “We hope the visit inspired some of the children to consider construction as a future career. They were eager to learn and now understand each stage of the process of building a modern energy efficient home.”
Wain Homes is building 125 energy-efficient homes at the site.
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