04/09/2026
£400billion raised but nothing saved.
That's been the story of the North Sea for the last 50 years.
What happened?
Britain raised around £483b in real terms from North Sea oil and gas since 1968 — roughly £400b once you net out the £80b decommissioning bill handed to taxpayers.
But Britain has very little to show for it because it saved nothing.
Intergenerational fairness was never discussed. Successive governments never thought how to spread the returns from Britain's oil and gas abundance over multiple generations.
Now Britain's Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh must decide whether to approve Jackdaw and Rosebank for drilling.
An intergenerationally fair decision now must also consider the climate costs of opening up new sites in the North Sea. Industry says approval is worth £28.7b to the British economy. Researchers estimate the same decision would cause £170–483b in future climate damages worldwide — and that counts only the social cost of the emissions burned, so it's conservative. Britain would only need to bear 5.9% of that global bill for the entire economic case to vanish.
Fahnbulleh cannot make repeat the mistake of the past 50 years. This time, intergenerational fairness must come first.
Why Britain squandered its North Sea inheritance — and the lesson we can't afford to ignore. Link in bio.
