While harvesting requires manual labour, small planters are proposing mechanisation of processes like drying beans and irrigation, which will help reduce dependency on labourers.
| Photo Credit: File photo

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Karnataka’s big coffee planters, reeling under years of labour shortage, are enjoying a welcome respite this harvest season as migrant workers arrived in sufficient numbers to meet the demand even as coffee prices have hit a record high this year, offering a financial cushion to growers after years of challenges.

For the past five years, coffee plantations in Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, and Hassan districts have grappled with a labour crisis during the crucial November-to-March harvest period. Planters heavily rely on migrant workers, primarily from Assam and West Bengal, with smaller contingents from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and north Karnataka. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns, and state and general elections in those States disrupted the arrival of these workers, exacerbating the shortage.

“We’ve seen a good inflow of labourers from Assam and West Bengal, unlike in recent years,” said Kaibulira Harish Appaiah, former president of the Kodagu Growers’ Association and executive committee member of the Kodagu Planters’ Association.

“All the elections in these States are over. There is no pandemic. This has ensured that workers can travel to Karnataka without disruptions. Coupled with record-high coffee prices, growers are hopeful that this will help recover from the losses incurred over the last 15 years, and help them reinvest in their estates,” he added.

However, workers from Tamil Nadu and north Karnataka have dwindled, opting for construction jobs in urban areas, such as Bengaluru. “These sectors offer regular work and comparable wages, pulling workers away from coffee estates,” said Mr Appaiah.

Kiran Hegde, a planter from Sakleshpur in Hassan, said, “Coffee harvesting is physically demanding and requires precision, which is why we rely on trained workers. The return of migrant workers has brought some relief, but it’s been a tough few years for all of us. If these high prices sustain, it might just give us the breathing room we desperately need.”

Varun Raj, a coffee grower from Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru, said, “We’re finally seeing hope. With global prices rising and labourers returning, it feels like we’re catching a break. However, this is just the beginning — we need sustained efforts to address these challenges for the future. Again next year we don’t know whether the labourers will come and if the price of the coffee will be high.”

Struggle for small growers

While large coffee estates have sufficient labour, small growers are still struggling.

“It usually takes a month to harvest my five-acre plantation with adequate workers. This year, we’ve only managed to cover 30% so far. Despite the high prices, small growers like me cannot afford the increased wages being offered by the larger estates. If we don’t harvest soon, the overripe cherries will drop, causing significant losses,” said Ramesh Uthappa, a planter from Birunani village in Kodagu.

Labour-intensive harvesting requires skilled hands, as the delicate process involves picking ripe cherries without damaging the plant. Workers, often earning double their usual wages, are incentivised to make the long journey to Karnataka.

Planters urge support for coffee mechanisation

Coffee growers rued the lack of support from the State and Central governments as well as the Coffee Board.

M.T. Poovaiah, a coffee planter from South Kodagu, said, “Labour shortages have become a major challenge. Local labourers are no longer available, and we have to rely on workers from Kerala, who come here, work for the day, and return home. We bear their transportation costs and hefty labour charges, which result in significant losses. Around 80% of the profit we earn from coffee goes back into maintaining our estates throughout the year. This includes expenses for harvesting, fertilizers, irrigation, and other essential work.”

Small coffee planters are urging the government to support mechanisation and automation to address labour shortages.

Highlighting this need, Mr Poovaiah added, “To tackle labour shortage problems, mechanisation and automation must be adopted in coffee plantations, and the government, especially the Coffee Board, should assist us. While harvesting still requires manual labour, mechanisation can be applied to processes like drying beans and irrigation, which will help reduce dependency on workers in these areas.”

The story so far: The Union Budget for 2024-25 made it clear that employment was a major priority of the government, with the word getting 23 mentions in the Finance Minister’s speech. With many voters expressing their disenchantment with rising unemployment in the recent election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lent his title to a package of schemes on employment.

What is the current state of employment?

According to the Economic Survey, India’s workforce was estimated to be nearly 56.5 crore in 2022-23, of which more than 45% is employed in agriculture, 11.4% in manufacturing, 28.9% in services, and 13% in construction. Officially, the unemployment rate was just 3.2% in that period, but economists note that these statistics do not reflect ground reality, given the large number of underemployed people in the country and the fact that many job seekers continue to work on farms or the unorganised retail sector or as casual labourers. A person is categorised as employed if he pursued any economic activity for at least 30 days in the preceding year.

Almost one in five people in the workforce (18.3%), mostly women, do not receive any wages for their labour, as they are unpaid workers in household enterprises. The urban unemployment rate for the quarter ending March 2024 stood at 6.7%, while youth unemployment stood at 10% in 2022-23. The percentage of people in regular salaried work has dropped from 22.8% in 2017-18 to 20.9% five years later, despite policy efforts to formalise the workforce; many salaried workers do not have access to contracts or social security benefits that usually define a formal worker. The government cites enrolment in the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) as evidence of formalisation. The EPFO has 7.3 crore contributing subscribers, though total accounts are 30 crore, including inoperative accounts and multiple accounts held by individuals.

What were specific schemes in the package?

Three of the schemes provide employment-linked incentives. The first scheme is meant to support the hiring of first-time employees, with a wage subsidy of up to ₹15,000 paid to the employee, and is expected to cover one crore people. The second is aimed at the hiring of first-time employees, specifically in the manufacturing sector, with wage subsidies to be paid to both employees and employers for four years, with a maximum incentive of 24% of a ₹25,000 monthly wage. The third supports employers who hire new workers, not necessarily first-timers, by reimbursing up to ₹3,000 of their monthly EPFO contribution. In fact, all three schemes are dependent on employees being registered with the EPFO. The fourth scheme aims to upgrade Industrial Training Institutes and boost skilling efforts, with 20 lakh students expected to benefit. The final scheme, which garnered headlines partly because of its similarities to a proposal in the Congress’s manifesto, is aimed at on-the-job skilling, with an ambitious target of one crore youth to be given internships in India’s top companies with a monthly allowance of ₹5,000 for one year, with the companies bearing training costs and 10% of the allowance.

What is in the fine print?

Economists and small industrialists say the conditions and procedures built into these schemes may create obstacles for effective implementation. For instance, the incentive scheme for first-time employees, which offers a ₹15,000 subsidy is paid out in three instalments; the second instalment is only payable if the employee undergoes a compulsory online financial literacy course. “This is impractical. Why should employees in every unrelated sector be expected to do this? And why should this be a condition for this incentive?” asks Himanshu, who teaches at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

More worrying is the clause stating that the subsidy is “to be refunded by the employer if the employment to the first timer ends within 12 months of recruitment.” If the employee switches jobs in 10 months, he has already received the benefit of the scheme, but the employer is required to bear the costs; labour experts say few small employers will be willing to take that risk. The scheme for creating jobs in manufacturing has a minimum requirement of hiring 50 people or 25% of their existing strength, which is a significant number of people to be hired at one go for any firm in return for marginal benefits.

How effective are these schemes likely to be?

These schemes essentially attempt to encourage hiring by reducing the cost of new hires. However, economists note that this is not the main constraint preventing employers from hiring new workers. Anamitra Roychowdhury, a labour economist at JNU, notes that India is already a low wage economy, with real monthly incomes falling over the last five years for the majority of the workforce. “Wage costs are a redundant constraint,” he says, adding that while skilling is certainly needed, it is not the central issue preventing hiring either.

“There is a bigger structural reason why the economy is not able to create jobs, and that is due to insufficient demand, caused by low consumption… and the lack of private investment. And if that comes up, then these costs won’t matter,” notes Amit Basole, professor at Azim Premji University. He adds that these schemes need to be pitched to the niche group of employers for whom such costs do matter, usually small firms with small margins. In fact, Finance Secretary T.V. Somanathan indicated in an interview with The Hindu that this may have been the government’s intention behind the scheme, noting that “fiscal incentives have a role at the margin”.

Editorial | Shuffling the deck: On the Union Budget 2024-25

With regard to formalisation of the workforce, Mr. Basole points out that apart from new people entering the workforce, there are also large numbers seeking to leave agriculture, petty trade, unorganised retail and domestic service. The need is to create formal jobs to keep up with the pace of the supply, which is not happening, as evidenced by the fact that the proportion of salaried workers has actually dropped slightly over the last five years.

What else is needed to create jobs?

“When we think of where we need to create jobs, it should not be in the top 500 companies which are largely capital intensive, but in the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector, in labour intensive sectors, in small towns. The need is to raise wages there, infuse money into MSMEs, which will have a multiplier effect,” says Mr. Himanshu, recommending a bottoms-up approach. If the urgent requirement is to stimulate demand by increasing consumption, another step could be to raise wages in MGNREGA, the rural jobs scheme, and create a similar employment guarantee scheme for urban workers, says Mr. Roychowdhury. “This would be the more direct approach to kickstart consumption,” he says, noting that the Centre has instead curbed MGNREGA funding.

As was widely expected in the UK elections, the Labour Party has registered one of its biggest victories, inflicting a huge defeat on the Conservative Party.

No one had expected this seismic outcome just a few years ago. But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is going to be the next British Prime Minister, is being hailed by everyone for changing the fortune of the party. He promised to get Britain out of economic stagnation and claimed he would fix the ailing National Health Services. He even reached out to ethnic communities, including the Indian diaspora.

‘Namaste’, Starmer

In the last days of the election campaign, Keir Starmer visited the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury, a prominent Hindu temple in London, and said “namaste” with folded hands. His charm offensive included him wearing a tilak on his forehead and a floral garland around his neck. Starmer may have looked out of place, but it was an attempt to placate angry Indian diaspora voters, the majority of whom were expected to favour the Conservative Party. The temple visit was also intended to send out a strong signal of friendship with India.

Also Read | Labour Sweeps UK Polls, Rishi Sunak’s Party Ousted For 1st Time In 14 Years

Despite his awkwardness, Starmer knew he had to perform this political act, not only because his visit underscored Labour’s commitment to embracing and celebrating diversity within the UK, but also because he needed to repair relations with the influential Indian diaspora, and, by extension, India. It had been clear for quite some time that his party was returning to power after a hiatus of 14 years and he was going to be the next UK Prime Minister; that is why he needed to undertake an India outreach before assuming office.

The Baggage Of The Past

Starmer’s gesture of visiting the temple was particularly significant given the events of September 2019, when during its annual conference in Brighton, the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership had passed a motion addressing the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The motion declared that there was a humanitarian crisis in the region and asserted that the people of Kashmir should be granted the right to self-determination. Additionally, it had called for the deployment of international monitors to the area to ensure the protection of human rights and the assessment of the situation on the ground.

Needless to say, the Labour Party had gone too far. And despite the clarification issued by Jeremy Corbyn, the damage was done.

The motion was met with significant backlash from the Indian diaspora, who felt that it was one-sided and did not consider the complexities of the Kashmir issue. The event marked a turning point as many members of the Indian community began to shift their allegiances to the Conservative Party.

Also Read | “This Is A Massacre”: Conservative Leader As Labour Heads For Massive UK Win

The Indian government also responded sharply to the Labour’s motion. It was reported that the Indian High Commission in London took the unprecedented step of cancelling a scheduled dinner for Labour leaders, signalling its strong disapproval. The Indian government officially rejected the motion, emphasising its concerns about what it viewed as interference in its internal affairs.

In an effort to mend relations, Starmer attempted to address the situation last year, when he asserted that the Labour Party would strive to maintain strong relations with India, indicating a desire to rebuild trust and cooperation. Despite these efforts, the episode highlighted the fragile nature of Labour’s relations with India and underscored the significant political influence of the Indian diaspora in the UK.
Labour’s image makeover under Starmer

A Changed Labour

Indeed, the Labour Party has now made a triumphant comeback, securing a thumping majority. We should keep in mind that the party is a much-changed one under Starmer. It wants to inject more depth and substance into Britain’s strategic partnership with India.

India is most likely to carefully monitor Labour’s policy stance on Kashmir, immigration and the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Indian government may have apprehensions about Labour’s views on its internal matters, but on balance, the India-UK bilateral relations will not change much under Starmer. In fact, Labour supporters in the Indian community believe that under him, the relations are likely to improve. It is being claimed that the number of Indian-origin Labour MPs would double from the current six members in the outgoing Parliament. 

Will The Ties Improve?

Academics in the UK at times tend to romanticise the bilateral ties between the two countries, looking at it chiefly from the prism of colonial nostalgia. We are led to believe that it is in India’s interest to have a deeper strategic partnership with Britain. To be honest, however, India sees Britain as a middle power, whose influence on the global stage has been on the wane for long. One can only blame the Conservative Party for it, a beleaguered and divided house which presided over 14 years of stagnation. India under Narendra Modi, who was born after the country’s independence, is, whether rightly or wrongly, not in awe of its erstwhile colonial masters.

Also Read | UK’s Labour Party Commits To Stamping Out “Anti-India Sentiments”

Yes, the bilateral trade in goods and services is growing steadily, and stood at £39 billion last year, with the balance of trade heavily in India’s favour. Yes, we have a vocal, upwardly mobile Indian diaspora, which acts as a bridge between the two countries and it often works to India’s advantage. But the oomph factor in bilateral relations has been missing for a long time. For example, India and the US warmed up to each other and became trusted partners only after the Civil Nuclear Agreement between the two countries was brokered under President George W. Bush. It was a pivotal moment that added significant “oomph” to bilateral ties and transformed the dynamics of the relationship, fostering deeper strategic, economic, and technological cooperation. It set the stage for an enduring partnership in the 21st century. Even during the Obama and Trump administrations the bilateral ties never ran out of excitement. 

One cannot say the same about India-UK relations, which badly need to be injected with energy, excitement and a mega-deal. 

FTA: Starmer’s First Challenge In India-UK Ties

With regards to India, one of the first tasks on Starmer’s desk will be to reach a Free Trade Agreement. He has maintained his commitment to completing the FTA, but it is not going to be easy. India’s priority appears to be to finalise an agreement with the European Union (EU) first. The bilateral trade in goods and services last year stood at €113 billion. The two sides relaunched the negotiations in 2022 and the progress is said to be satisfactory.

According to a group of researchers, another stumbling block in the India-UK FTA is “the opposition in the UK to Indian demands for more visas for intra-company transfers and particularly to demands that social security contributions from Indian workers during such transfers be reimbursed”.

Immigration Policies

Brexit has led to record levels of Indian immigration. Of the 6.85 lakh immigrants in the UK today, the majority come from India. The Labour Party’s stated aim is to reduce legal immigration and curb illegal immigration. Many of the legal Indian immigrants are IT professionals on work permits, contributing to the UK’s technology sector. There is a small number of illegal immigrants from India as well.

The party’s policy seeks to balance the economic benefits of skilled migrants with the goal of controlling overall immigration numbers, reflecting broader political and economic priorities.
Human Rights and Citizenship Laws

Historically, the Labour Party has been vocal about human rights issues in India, particularly on laws like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Labour Party’s criticism has been viewed by the Indian government as interference and a misrepresentation of India’s internal policies aimed at addressing specific security concerns. Starmer will be under pressure from domestic human rights organisations to put forward liberal British perspectives. His diplomatic skills are bound to be tested in the coming months and years.

The relations between the UK’s Labour Party and the Indian government are complex, influenced by historical ties, diaspora politics, and divergent policy priorities. Addressing such challenges will require nuanced diplomacy, mutual respect, and an understanding of the sensitivities involved on both sides.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

London:

When either Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer take to the stage to hail victory in the British election on Friday, they will be joined at their moment of triumph by either a man with a trash can on his head or someone dressed as “Elmo” from the Muppets.

Among the more than 4,500 candidates standing for election to parliament’s 650 seats are those from fringe parties, single-issue campaigners, and, in a peculiarly British tradition, those who are simply making fun of the whole thing.

The best-known figure in the latter category is Count Binface, “an intergalactic space warrior, leader of the Recyclons from planet sigma IX”, who will be challenging Prime Minister Sunak in his constituency in northern England.

Dressed in a silver outfit with a matching cape and wearing a silver trash can as a helmet, Binface says he wants to make the July 4 election “Bindependence Day” and that he is the “sane” choice for the electorate.

“That’s right, under the British system I get to stand against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, it’s brilliant,” Binface, aka comedian Jonathan Harvey, told Reuters outside parliament where he was mobbed by passers-by asking to have their photograph taken with him.

Binface is now a familiar face – or helmet – at British elections, having stood against two ex-prime ministers, Theresa May in 2017 – albeit then in his former guise as Lord Buckethead – and Boris Johnson in 2019. He also contested the London mayor elections in 2021 and in May this year when he won 24,000 votes.

Among his eye-catching policies are pledges to price-cap croissants at 1.10 pounds ($1.39), national service for all former prime ministers and that he should represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.

“It might be true that on Thursday night or Friday morning, I haven’t beaten Rishi Sunak numerically,” said Binface, who has been endorsed by one national newspaper, the irreverent Daily Star tabloid. “But I would argue the moral victory will be mine.”

LOONIES

The veterans of the UK comedy candidate genre belong to the Official Monster Raving Loony Party which was formed in 1982 and has regularly contested elections ever since.

This year it is fielding 22 candidates, including Howling ‘Laud’ Hope, the party leader, Baron Von Thunderclap, and Earl Elvis of East Anglia.

Elsewhere “AI Steve” is hoping to become the world’s first artificial intelligence lawmaker, while the Psychedelic Movement Party candidate in Southend is standing on pledges to ignore the law and open 24-hour cannabis cafes.

Some candidates make no secret of using the election for publicity such as Chris French who is standing having entered his pub “The Mitre” in Richmond, west London, as a political party.

Polls say Labour leader Starmer will be Britain’s next leader. “Elmo” from the Muppets will be competing for his seat.

Like Count Binface, Elmo has stood in numerous elections although Bobby Smith, the man in the furry red outfit, is seeking to make an earnest political point and wants to change the law on fathers’ rights.

Binface himself had a serious message behind the jokes, saying it was important to protect democracy in a year when “over half the eligible humans on your planet” would go to the polls.

“I’m here to cherish it, to defend it, to celebrate the fact that anyone in the UK can not just vote but you all stand for election whatever your platform or however idiotic you look,” he said. “I urge everyone … do go out to vote, and most importantly, make your vote, count.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Construction workers are hard at work under the scorching sun. File
| Photo Credit: Karthikeyan G

The Tamil Nadu government should make insurance cover for construction workers mandatory in building plan approval applications, the Tamil Nadu AITUC Construction Workers Union has said.

General secretary of the Union N. Selvaraj told The Hindu on Friday that three construction workers died in accidents at construction sites in and around Coimbatore in the last 10 days. Even if a worker is not registered with the construction workers welfare board, his family will get ₹5 lakh compensation if he dies at the work site. Further, compensation should be paid to the worker’s family – depending on his age – by the property owner under the Workman Compensation Act.

However, most of the owners do not pay this amount. It takes a long time to settle the issue legally too and the family of the worker does not benefit.

Hence, the State government should make it mandatory for those who submit applications for building plan approval to get insurance cover for the workers. Only two public sector insurance companies have such policies. The applicant can take insurance cover for 10 workers or so – depending on the size of the building under construction, pay premium for one year and submit the details when the application is submitted for plan approval. This will benefit the workers, he said.

A couple in Louisiana, United States, welcomed “spontaneous triplets”, the term used for naturally conceiving identical triplets, a rare occurrence that happens to one out of one million to 200 million pregnancies. Haley and Matthew Cordaro gave birth to the trio at Willis-Knighton South & the Center for Women’s Health in late August, as per a press release. 

Haley went into labour at 31 weeks, resulting in the preterm birth of their children. All three of them weighed less than three pounds and have been in the hospital since their birth. The couple, who are also parents to a three-year-old daughter Kennedy, told People Magazine, “We were so fortunate and blessed to have made it 32 weeks and to have delivered three healthy babies considering all the potential risks when pregnant with multiples. We know we will have some challenges ahead but are ecstatic for our new life with the girls.”

Dr Gerald Brent Whitton, a NICU doctor, who has been taking care of Claire, Ella and Lily Codaro said in the press release, “They have done very well. It has been a straightforward and uncomplicated stay. As we get closer to the babies’ release, we will get the parents up here and get them used to taking care of all three at the same time.” However, the girls have to pass three tests, as per the hospital. They must have any breathing problems resolved and should be able to maintain their temperature in their crib. The last test requires them to be able to eat consistently. 

Hospital authorities stated that Matthew and Haley were “surprised” to discover they were expecting triplets during an ultrasound check. They added that neither side of the couple had a history of multiple births. Mr Cordaro said that they were in “absolute disbelief” when they heard the news and their feelings shifted from happiness to nervousness. “Our feelings then shifted towards worry due to the pregnancy being very high risk in nature. Once we got to the second trimester and on, our doctor visits continually brought great news,” he told the outlet. 

When the trio turned a month old, the mother posted an update on Facebook and said that they were gaining weight and would be home soon. “Happy one month to these little angel babies! They have been working on bottle feeds & gaining weight and should be able to come home in a few short weeks!” Ms Haley wrote on the social media platform in September. In another post, she wrote that her three-year-old is ” just smitten with her little baby sisters!”

The story so far: Angering enivronmental activists across United Kingdom (U.K), the British government okayed one of the country’s biggest new oil and gas projects —the North Sea Rosebank field— on September 27. The Rishi Sunak government claims that the project was essential for securing the nation’s energy demands.

The move comes mere days after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a delay in the ban on sales of new petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, claiming that he needed the public’s support in switching to net zero (carbon emissions). Mr. Sunak claims that Britain could afford to make slower progress in net zero emissions by 2050 as it was ‘so far ahead of every other country in the world’. The watering down of Britain climate action has triggered fears of other European nations following suit.

Mr. Sunak has stood firm by his decision to green light Rosebank, stating that it was a necessary domestic source of fossil fuel and that Britain would still be dependent on oil and gas as one of its fuel sources by 2050. His Energy Security Minister Claire Coutinho has stated that Rosebank will produce less emissions as it would eventually electrify the oil extraction process.

What is the Rosebank field project?

Located 130 kilometres north-west of Shetland islands, the Rosebank oil field was first discovered in 2004 by Chevron. While oil reserve capacity was demonstrated in 2019, the field has remained untapped till now. In 2019, Norwegian oil company Equinor acquired the licences for the project from Chevron. Known for tackling challenging deepwater untapped reserves, this joint venture by Equinor (80%) and British oil honcho Ithaca (20%) will drill for oil at a depth of 1100 metres under water. The project will be developed in two phases, with the first oil extraction scheduled for 2026.

Estimated to pump 300 million barrels of oil, the Rosebank field will comprise of 8% of UK’s total oil production and is estimated to generate 1,600 jobs during construction and 450 UK-based jobs throughout its lifetime — till 2051. Equinor estimates that the project investment will amount to £8.1 billion, of which £3.1 billion has already been invested in the first phase.

The project will reuse a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) previously owned by Altera Infrastructure. An FPSO is a ship-like structure which receives fluids through risers from subsea reservoirs and then separates them into crude oil, natural gas, water and impurities. In order to reduce carbon emissions, the FPSO will be prepared for future electrification, cutting down the upstream carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity from 12kg/boe (barrels of oil equivalent) to less than 3 kg/boe.

The Norwegian oil producer had first submitted its environmental proposal in August 2022, which was open for public consultation till September 2022. While initially questioning Equinor about the environmental impact of the project, the North Sea Transition Authority — UK’s oil and gas regulator— okayed the project after considering the project’s net zero action throughout its lifetime. After Equinor made a final investment decision, the Sunak government okayed the project on September 27, 2023, despite protests by climate activists.

Conservatives, Labour & Scotland: Where do they stand on Rosebank?

Throwing his weight behind Rosebank, Mr. Sunak highlighted how important the North Sea oilfield was for UK’s energy security and economy. In an interview with BBC Scotland, he said, “I don’t want our children to be dependent on foreign dictators like Putin for our energy”.

He added that while UK will switch to clean energy, he would prefer to use gas from domestic sources during the transition rather than “import [gas] from abroad at four times the carbon emissions.” The UK government has stated that if investment in new North Sea oil projects is stopped, the nation’s fuel imports will increase by 10% by 2035.

Surprisingly, the Labour party, which opposes development in the North Sea, has said it will not reverse the approval to develop Rosebank if it wins the general election in 2025. Its leader Mr. Keir Starmer said that the party would accept the projects it inherits from this government to ensure stability, if it comes to power in 2025. His remarks were met by protests by Labour supporters outside shadow cabinet members’ offices.

Pulling up the Sunak government for reversing its net zero policies, Ed Miliband, the shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security said that the Labour party will tackle cost of living crisis and the climate crisis in tandem. Claiming that Conservatives lacked a vision for future economic growth, Mr. Miliband asserted that the only way to bring down household bills and secure UK’s economic future was by switching to green energy.

Criticising Mr. Sunak, Scotland’s first Minister Humza Yousaf claimed that Downing Street was in ‘climate denial.’ Taking to the microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), Mr. Yousaf pointed out that as Equinor planned to sell Rosebank’s oil at global prices, the fuel extracted from the site would not remain in Scotland or UK. He also slammed the UK government’s decision to commit to approving 100 new oil & gas licences, posting, “That isn’t climate leadership. It is climate denial.”

Why are climate activists opposing Rosebank?

Climate activists have already been seething over Mr. Sunak’s decision to water down the UK’s climate goals. Activists say that by pushing the ban on new petrol and diesel cars to 2035 and easing transition of home gas boilers to heat pumps, the UK will not be able to achieve its legally-binding 2050 net zero target. By estimations, Rosebank’s carbon emissions will be three times that of the nearby Cambo oil field — approximately 200 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to operating 56 coal-fired power stations for one year.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has indicatedthat for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, no new oil and gas projects can be developed. The IEA has also estimated that demand for fossil fuels will fall by 80% by 2050 as more and more people switch to electric cars and solar panels. Hence, big oil fields like Rosebank are unnecessary for meeting energy demands, says the IEA.

Several British lawmakers have pointed out that Rosebank will not aid in bringing down household electric bills as most of the oil extracted (90%) will be sold to the global market across Europe. Equinor, meanwhile, has stated that its oil will be transported via the West of Shetland pipeline to support Europe’s ‘energy security.’ This will ultimately end up in the UK grid, securing the nation’s energy needs, the company avers.

What are the ecological effects?

The North Sea’s Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt is host to deep sea sponges, a variety of clams and quahogs, already subject to a fragile ecosystem. In a protest held in January outside Downing Street, activists displayed a four-metre whale model — emphasizing the havoc oil pipelines will create when laid underwater along the migration corridor of the fin whale and the sperm whale.

During construction, noise pollution and sediment plumes would likely disrupt habitats of shellfish, marine mammals and cephalopods. Drilling may also harm delicate marine creatures like sponges, corals and slow-moving mammals. The biggest threat to marine life, however, is a deep-sea oil spill which would spread faster due to sea currents, damaging fauna like multiple species of fish, dolphins, orcas, and birds and disrupting the food chain in the area.

Windfall tax & oil incentives

Activists have also claimed that the UK tax-payers will hand over £3.75 billion to Equinor via tax breaks awarded to them by the government, just to develop Rosebank field for oil extraction. They further claim that once the plant is operational, the tax-payers are set to lose more than £750 million as Equinor will reap benefits from future tax breaks and profits earned in its oil sale.

However, Equinor and the UK government refuted any tax benefit for the oil company due to Rosefield. In the wake of the massive profits earned by oil companies during the initial days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK levied a 35% windfall tax called the Energy Profits Levy beyond the 40% corporation tax already imposed on oil and gas firms. Currently, oil companies like Equinor and Ithaca pay a 75% tax on their UK profits until 2028.

On the other hand, on June 9, 2023, the UK government announced the Energy Security Investment Mechanism which will go into effect post-March 2028. Under this scheme, if oil prices fall to normal levels (pre-Ukraine invasion rates) for a sustained period, then the tax for oil companies will return to 40%. The move is aimed attract investment in UK’s domestic oil fields — especially the North Sea region.