Burnham's 10 Climate Fixes: Reject Rosebank, Tax Big Oil
SkimNews Take
Several of these 10 asks—blocking North Sea drilling licenses, raising oil windfall taxes—sit well beyond any regional mayor's remit, suggesting the platform functions less as a local agenda than as structured pressure aimed upward at Westminster.
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- Andy Burnham's government is urged to reject drilling licenses for the Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gasfields, with the UK Energy Research Council calling claims of energy resilience and affordability benefits "a delusion."
- The eight biggest oil companies made $93bn in the three months to end of June 2026, almost double the prior year, prompting calls for an increased windfall tax to fund climate adaptation measures.
- The privatized water industry has paid £85bn to shareholders while losing a fifth of water to leaking pipes; campaigners including Surfers Against Sewage want public control to enable long-term resilience investment.
- UK fire brigades lack any dedicated water-bombing planes and rely on privately chartered helicopters with suspended buckets, while Spanish emergency services use specialized amphibious aircraft to fight wildfires.
- The TUC wants maximum workplace temperature rules — reduce work above 24C, stop work above 30C (27C for strenuous tasks) — a demand recently backed by the government's Climate Change Committee.
- The UK faces a predicted water shortfall of 5bn litres per day by 2055; mandatory grey water reuse in new buildings could cut individual consumption by 50%.
- Neighbourhoods need more than 20% tree canopy for meaningful urban cooling, but newly planted trees won't shade buildings for 15-20 years — making conservation of existing mature trees critical, per RMIT University research.
Why it matters: For Andy Burnham's Greater Manchester government, this agenda shifts climate adaptation from decade-long planning to immediate action addressing summer 2026's record deaths. A windfall tax on oil companies' $93bn quarterly profits would fund urgent measures like workplace temperature caps and cool community spaces that directly protect workers and vulnerable residents.
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