OIL DEPLETION, ENERGY SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND THE LOW CARBON ECONOMY

Early day motion 199, tabled 3 December 2003 by David Chaytor (Labour). Signed by 55 members.

That this House notes the growing consensus amongst the world's leading petroleum geologists and geophysicists that the peak of global oil production will occur at some point within the next 10 years; recognises that global oil reserves, which were created over several billion years, will have been largely consumed, primarily by a small number of western industrial democracies, within a little over 100 years; further notes that all future discoveries of oilfields are likely to be in the regions where extraction costs are extremely high; believes that the current military occupation of the world's second largest oil reserves is largely related to the impending energy crisis in the United States; and therefore calls on the Government to prepare a major public awareness campaign on the future economic and lifestyle consequences of oil depletion, establish a set of national targets for energy self-sufficiency to the year 2050, and increase the budget allocation to scientific research, energy conservation and other policy measures designed to manage the transition to a low carbon economy as speedily and painlessly as possible.

Signatures by party: Labour 35, Liberal Democrat 11, Labour/Co-operative 4, Plaid Cymru 3, Conservative 2.