Climate activists staged a choreographed ‘die-in’ outside the Offshore Europe Conference in Aberdeen yesterday to “send a message” to big oil and gas majors.
The protest, which took place outside the new P&J Live exhibition space in Dyce, lasted for an hour and saw around 50 Extinction Rebellion activists lie down on the ground in protest against the current rate of North Sea oil and gas extraction.
The protest was carried out amid a strong police presence outside the venue.
Extinction Rebellion protester from Aberdeen, Molly McLachlan, said the event had been targeted because “one of primary industries to blame for the climate devastation we’re facing right now is the fossil fuel industry”.
She added: “We need to move forward with the energy transition and it’s not happening fast enough and we need to stop oil and gas extraction before we reach a point of no return.”
The group marched toward P&J Live signing “you canny make a profit when you’re dead”.
It also had three primary demands with Ms McLachlan calling for the government to “tell the truth” about the global climate issue and to halt biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions.
Asked whether Extinction Rebellion would be willing to come to the table and talk with BP and Shell, she said: “Absolutely. We’re open and wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from joining the discussion.
“If major players were willing to have these discussions with our science representatives then we’d be happy to have them.”
Myke Hall, Extinction Rebellion’s media liaison, said the protest provided a “shocking image” of how climate change was “killing a lot of people today and would continue to kill a lot of people in future”.
Jonathan Heastie, portfolio director at Offshore Europe organiser Reed Exhibitions Energy, Marine and Rotorcraft said the conference “understood” that climate change posed an “important question”.
He added: “Offshore Europe features a wide range of elements related to the energy transition, emphasising the industry’s commitment to sustainable energy generation.
“P&J Live operates using energy-efficient sustainable sources, which has secured a significant reduction to the event’s carbon footprint compared to previous editions of OE.”
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