Fossil fuels - Major investor threatens to pull out of UK over 'clickbait cycle' policies
The Guardian|August 02, 2023
A billionaire global investor has led international condemnation of the UK's new oil rush, saying he would pull his major investment from the country if the prime minister pursued "clickbait" fossil fuel policies.
Sandra Laville Oliver Milman Nina Lakhani
Fossil fuels - Major investor threatens to pull out of UK over 'clickbait cycle' policies

The Australian mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest, who also runs the Minderoo Foundation philanthropic organisation, threatened to move his investments out of the UK over Rishi Sunak's swivel towards new oil and gas drilling.

"I am a major investor here," Forrest told Bloomberg News. "If I see this country steering itself over a cliff backing fossil fuel, I am going to start pulling out. I will push my investments over to North America ... I must invest where I know I have proper leadership, not leadership which is on a clickbait cycle."

The prime minister's announcement that more than 100 new oil and gas drilling licences would be granted for the North Sea in the autumn has sparked condemnation from climate scientists, energy experts and some within his own party.

The push for oil and gas is in direct conflict with international experts including those at the International Energy Agency and the International Institute for Sustainable Development who say oil and gas exploration must stop if the world is to stay within safe limits of global heating and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

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