Journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro explores how the war in Ukraine dramatically shifted the conversation around energy in the U.K., a country legally bound to reach net zero by 2050. Reporting from Aberdeen, Scotland, self-described as the oil capital of Europe, this project highlights how the energy industry is meeting a self-imposed challenge to transition to renewables, or as critics say, how it’s not. They say the long-term production of oil is at odds with the country’s carbon neutrality goals and that the pace of the transition itself is being driven by profits for oil companies.
Energy companies are plump with government subsidies to develop renewables, but critics say those funds should be going to projects that actually reduce energy demand. For their part, the companies say oil is a necessity, as are the renewables they are developing. This report investigates the tension in Aberdeen, a city whose future is closely tied to the energy industry.
