Net zero is a legal obligation. The international pressure, moreover, makes repudiation all but impossible. Britain would be a pariah if it tore up the objective.
Yet there is now widespread acceptance that fossil fuels have a rather longer future than previously thought, and not just because of the practicalities and costs of going wholly green in an economy which is still 80pc dependent on fossil fuels for its energy needs.
Concern over security after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is giving hydrocarbons a new lease of life. It therefore makes perfect sense to be trying to extend the life of North Sea production for as long as possible.
The slight easing announced last week in the windfall profits tax regime, effectively halving the tax burden should the oil price fall sustainably below a certain level, is in this regard a step in the right direction.
Labour and the Scottish National Party, by contrast, have both taken a hardline position that envisages a complete ban on all new North Sea investment, thereby effectively putting the industry into run-off.
This is not just bad economics, it is also bad politics. Pursuit of net zero was once thought of as an electoral plus, and up to a point, it still is, in that the majority of people believe it to be a desirable, even necessary objective.
Until, that is, the practicalities of achieving it become apparent. You only need to look at Germany and the Netherlands to see what happens when policymakers move too fast and aggressively. In both countries there has been a fierce political backlash against environmentally driven policy that threatens livelihoods and living standards.
In any case, for now North Sea oil remains a vital part of the UK economy, and even more so that of Scotland.
For Labour to be pushing ahead with its destruction when the party’s prospects of securing a substantial majority at the next election are partially dependent on making a big comeback north of the border, looks particularly bone-headed.
