Oil and gas giants cannot be trusted with the just transition, warns climate expert

Last week BP unveiled its new strategy, refocusing efforts on increasing oil and gas production and cutting its investments in renewables.

This comes after its investors were unhappy with BP’s profits and the fact its share price is much lower than its rivals.

However, Nigel Topping from the Climate Change Committee says while energy giants like BP have been “struggling” to navigate the just transition, he believes it can be achieved if more people make the switch to electric vehicles (EVs).

Speaking to BBC The Sunday Show, he said petrol and diesel cars are the “main driver” for the continuing demand in oil and gas.

However he said it will be “game over” for petrol and diesel cars by 2030, estimating 93 per cent of car sales within five years will be EVs.

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He added car manufacturers have “a lot of catching up to do” to build more EVs and reduce the demand for fossil fuels, but added oil and gas companies cannot be trusted to manage the transition to renewables.

His words were echoed by Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, who said: “Many of the economic winds are blowing in the right direction, but the political winds are now blowing in the wrong direction.

“We are seeing the rise of Donald Trump and other far-right regimes around the world spreading climate denial and a slow down of policy action by the current and previous UK Government and the Scottish Government.

“We need to accelerate action if we are going to be serious.

“The lack of trust people should have in oil companies has been known for decades - these companies initially created and boosted the climate denial movement, and spent decades covering up what they knew, and then spent another decade moving from climate denial to climate delay.”

This comes as UK Energy Minister Michael Shanks accused civil servants of hampering his party’s plans for GB Energy.

Mr Shanks says politicians are having to “push and push and push” officials in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on their proposals for the publicly-owned energy company.

He says this is because having a firm under public ownership “doesn’t fit” with the civil service’s “mindset” after working for the Conservatives for years.

Mr Shanks said: “You arrive with a civil service, particularly after an election, where the government has shifted, that have spent a huge amount of time preparing for your arrival.

“They knew exactly what our priorities were going to be and had already done a lot of work on exactly how they would implement them, but, they also have only ever experienced the government they worked under before.”

He added: “The idea of public ownership just doesn’t fit within the kind of mindset of much of a civil service that’s only worked under a government that would never consider the idea of different models of ownership.”

He suggested this needs to be a “really important lesson” for Scottish Labour if it wins the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

Scottish leader Anas Sarwar’s party has been slipping in the polls with the latest projections suggesting the party is on course for its worst election result since devolution.