Uplift (campaign organisation)

Legal action

In December 2023, Uplift and Greenpeace UK brought judicial review proceedings in the Court of Session in Edinburgh,^[6] challenging the approval of the Rosebank^[7] and Jackdaw^[8] offshore oil and gas developments. The claimants argued that the environmental impact assessments had failed to account for downstream (scope 3) greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of the extracted oil and gas.^[9]

In August 2024, the UK government conceded that the original decisions were unlawful, following the UK Supreme Court's ruling in Finch v Surrey County Council, which established that environmental impact assessments must include downstream emissions.^[10] In January 2025, the Court of Session ruled in Uplift's favour, finding the original consents unlawful, and ordering that both fields must seek fresh approval incorporating their downstream emissions before any oil or gas could be extracted.^[11]

In January 2026, Uplift published legal advice arguing that approving Rosebank would risk breaching the Geneva Conventions on the grounds that Delek Group – the Israeli majority shareholder in Ithaca Energy, which holds a 20% stake in the field – appears on a UN human rights database of businesses linked to illegal settlements in the West Bank.^[12]

Research

Uplift produces reports and briefings on the economics of North Sea oil and gas, energy security, and the fiscal and climate case for ending new licensing.^[13] For example, Uplift research in 2025 found that new licences issued across five licensing rounds in the previous decade had delivered just 16 days' worth of gas.^[14] Its research has also been submitted as written evidence to parliamentary committees.^[15]

Campaigns

Uplift coordinates the Stop Rosebank campaign, which opposes the development of the Rosebank oil and gas field, the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea, located west of the Shetland Islands.^[16]

Alongside Friends of the Earth Scotland and others, Uplift previously played a central role in the Stop Cambo campaign,^[17] which pressured Shell to withdraw from the Cambo oil field development in 2021.^[18][19][20]

Uplift was a founding member of Warm This Winter,^[21] a coalition of anti-poverty, health and environmental organisations formed in 2022 in response to the UK energy crisis,^[22] which campaigned for emergency energy bill support, home insulation and an end to new oil and gas licensing, and ran until 2024.

Political advocacy

Uplift serves as the secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change, known as the Climate APPG.^[23][24] Following the 2024 general election, the group is chaired by Luke Murphy^[25] and its vice-chairs are Pippa Heylings,^[26] Carla Denyer and Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park.^[27] The APPG brings together MPs and peers from across parties to engage with climate and energy policy, hear from expert witnesses, and maintain a sustained parliamentary presence on fossil fuels phase-out.