A year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK's purchases of fossil fuels from authoritarian petrostates reportedly climbed to £19.3 billion ($24.3 billion), as The Guardian reported.
Reports Indicate a Spike in Shipments From Authoritarian Petrostates
According to data from the Office for National Statistics analyzed by DeSmog, attempts to stop buying oil and gas from Russia seem to have led to a rise in imports from Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Kemi Badenoch, the secretary for trade and business, visited the Middle East last month to "boost trade ties" with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a trading bloc consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
In 2022, the UK and GCC trade reached an all-time high of £61.3 billion ($77 billion).
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in October 2022, warned that the UK had grown too complacent and reliant on authoritarian regimes for cheap products and energy. It now seems that rather than investing in Russia, the UK has instead put money into other countries that have been accused of human rights breaches and are involved in violent wars.
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Decreasing the UK's Reliance on Russian Fossil Fuels
When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, imports of Russian fossil fuel dropped from $753 million to nil in January of this year. Nevertheless, imports of fossil fuels from other authoritarian petrostates increased by almost 60% annually, offsetting this.
After spending less than $125 billion on energy imports in the previous year, the UK spent over $157 billion on fossil fuel imports in the fiscal year starting in February 2022, according to research by DeSmog.
Qatar was the UK's largest supplier of fossil fuels at $8.6 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia at $4.2 billion, Kuwait at $3.2 billion, and the UAE at $3.1 billion.
"While cutting our dependence on Russian fossil fuels is both necessary and laudable - albeit with little actual choice - it is a half-measure if only aimed at reducing fossil fuels from Russia," said Dominic Kavakeb of the human rights and environmental advocacy organization Global Witness.
"Replacing Russian energy with fossil fuels from other authoritarian regimes, some of which are also engaged in brutal conflicts, is at best shortsighted, at worst a gross hypocrisy. Fossil fuels are the currency of dictators and warmongers everywhere. It's time to build an energy system that benefits people and the planet, rather than polluters, petrostates, and despots," he added.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency has declared that the world must drastically reduce coal, oil, and gas usage to reach net zero, requiring a total energy system change.
