Oil and gas-linked groups to sponsor a fifth of climate events at upcoming Labour Conference

A fifth of all climate events at Labour conference are sponsored by oil and gas-linked companies, Global Witness has found.  

Centrica, owner of British Gas, OVO and multiple fossil fuel lobbying groups are among those paying to have a presence at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool, attended by politicians and policymakers. 

The conference, which will see speeches from senior cabinet members and a fringe schedule of events, will be the first with Labour in power since 2009.  

The industry’s attempts to brand the climate discussions at Labour’s annual meeting come amidst an increasingly vocal pressure campaign against tougher taxes on oil and gas production, as well as a mooted ban on new licenses in the North Sea.  

Deputy leader of the Green Party, Zac Polanski, has called the findings "deeply concerning", adding that there should be “a firewall between MPs and the oil and gas lobby.”

EDF Energy, the developer behind the nuclear energy project Sizewell C, will sponsor two climate events at Labour conference, entitled “What’s Needed To Unlock Clean Energy Generation in the UK?” and “Keeping Britain Warm While Saving Cash and Carbon: Delivering on Labour’s Net Zero Goals in the Home.” 

EDF Energy UK is a subsidiary of French state-owned gas company EDF. EDF Trading, part of the EDF group, also participates in oil and natural gas markets.  

Gas companies Centrica and Cadent will sponsor climate events on “The Journey to Net Zero” and “The Role of Gas Networks in the UK’s Energy Transition” respectively. 

The director of strategy at Cadent Gas is the only listed speaker on its event, alongside a chair from media organisation the New Statesman. Centrica announced in 2019 that it would be ending oil and gas exploration and production by the end of 2020, but last year its CEO reportedly described its oil and gas assets as a “key part of our portfolio.”

Groups representing oil and gas are also sponsoring events. Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), whose members include Total Energies and BP, is sponsoring one climate event at the conference on a "homegrown energy transition".

Energy UK, who describes itself as “the voice of the energy industry” and whose members include BP and Equinor, will be sponsoring an event on how Labour will achieve its “energy targets.” Its CEO will sit on the panel. 

In response to a request for comment, it said that while BP and Equinor were members, it engages “only in relation to other parts of their activities such as their respective renewables businesses.” 

Energy Networks Association (ENA), which represents gas networks like Cadent and electricity networks, will also sponsor an event. In response to our request for comment, ENA said it had plans to no longer represent gas networks after this year. 

Other oil and gas-linked companies sponsoring events at Labour conference include OVO, which will sponsor an event on the “journey to zero carbon living” and Vattenfall – a Swedish energy company that utilises natural gas.  

In total, nine out of 51 events dealing with climate will have sponsors linked to the fossil fuel industry.

Labour is in the process of formulating its energy policies, which could have a commercial impact on the groups sponsoring events at the conference.  

Since the election, energy secretary Ed Miliband has pledged to make Britain “a clean energy superpower with zero carbon electricity by 2030,” in order to move towards net zero. Labour has lifted an onshore wind ban imposed by the Tory government, and is expected to increase the levy on oil and gas profits. 

It is not clear, however, whether Labour will move ahead with its plan to ban any new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea – a key manifesto pledge.

Oil and gas industry groups have expressed concern over Labour’s plans to ban new North Sea oil licenses and to increase a windfall tax on profits, claiming it will be “game over” for the North Sea industry. 

OEUK, which represents over 400 oil and gas companies including Centrica’s storage arm, also said members of its industry were “deeply concerned” with Labour’s proposals, and claimed they would impact the UK’s “economic growth.”  

Global Witness reached out to the Labour Party and each of the above-named sponsors. 

A Vattenfall spokesperson said: “Across all its markets, Vattenfall is actively phasing out fossil fuel-based generation and has set a target of being net zero in its own operations and throughout its supply chain by 2040, which has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.” 

OEUK’s health, safety, environment and operations director, Mark Wilson, told Global Witness: “The offshore energy industry has a positive role in helping the UK reposition and transform its energy system in line with the net zero emissions target for 2050 set out by the Committee for Climate Change.” 

A spokesperson for ENA, said: “Our gas members leave at the end of this year, which means we are only representing electricity networks at party conferences. We do not represent oil and gas production interests whatsoever." 

Companies from the oil and gas industry have also paid thousands of pounds to have a physical presence at the conference by purchasing a stand in the conference’s exhibition space. 

INEOS, Utilita UK, Hydrogen UK, Beyond 2050 – a hydrogen lobbying group that has represented BP and British Gas – and the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) have all spent thousands of pounds to secure a stand in the large space located directly outside the main hall. 

According to pricing provided by the Labour party, Utilita UK will have spent at least £15,000 for its space, while Hydrogen UK will have spent at least £13,000. 

Pricing for larger spaces is not specified by the Party’s conference literature but it is likely that groups like Beyond2050, who have a 48sqm “Hydrogen Zone”, have spent tens of thousands of pounds on its space. 

Polanski, who is also a Green Party London Assembly Member, said: "Just last month the UN accused fossil fuel companies of running 'a massive mis- and disinformation campaign' so that countries will slow down the adoption of renewable energy and the speed with which they 'transition away' from a carbon-intensive economy.  

To hear that a fifth of all climate events at Labour conference this year are sponsored by groups tied to the oil and gas industry is deeply concerning. We are facing a climate emergency, and we need a firewall between MPs and the oil and gas lobby to prevent their malign influence dictating our policy making whilst our planet boils.” 

Rob Noyes, a campaigner for group Fossil Free Parliament told Global Witness that party conferences are a “lion’s den of fossil fuel lobbyists.” 

"The industry uses the conferences to scaremonger about the impact of real climate solutions on society, and to promote in turn expensive, unproven technologies like CCS and hydrogen – pipe dreams that protect their ability to keep making obscene profits from oil and gas,” said Noyes. 

“Be under no illusion: what the industry wants and what the country needs are not the same thing. To urgently deliver energy savings and security, and to safeguard the climate – we need to kick fossil fuels out of politics.” 

Global Witness reached out to INEOS, Utilita UK, Hydrogen UK, Beyond2050 for comment.  

A CCSA Spokesperson said: “Like many organisations that regularly engage with political stakeholders, we are attending the Labour Party Conference to showcase the vital role that carbon capture, utilisation and storage has in the transition to a net zero economy.”