When Andy Burnham entered 10 Downing Street, few expected his first major test to emerge from the waters of the North Sea. Yet the Rosebank oilfield, the UK's largest untapped fossil fuel reserve, has quickly become a defining issue for the new prime minister, pitting climate commitments against energy politics and drawing in everyone from Donald Trump to grassroots activists in the Shetland Islands. Main Developments Rosebank's fate now rests with Burnham's government after a January 2025 court ruling declared that previous approval for the field—granted in 2023 to Norwegian state-owned Equinor—was unlawful. The High Court judgment, triggered by legal challenges from Uplift and Greenpeace, forced developers to reapply while accounting for downstream emissions from burning extracted oil. In June 2026, the joint venture between Equinor and Shell, called Adura, submitted its final environmental reports covering those downstream emissions. The UK government then opened a public notice period that closes on August 17, after which Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh will deliver the final verdict. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has declined to comment on individual projects. Read also: Rubio declares 'head for an eye' policy on Iran amid escalating tensions Reports that Burnham might allow drilling have already sparked reactions abroad. US President Donald Trump, a longtime advocate of fossil fuel expansion, celebrated the possibility. But inside the UK, the proposal has deepened divisions between those who see economic opportunity and those who fear environmental catastrophe. Among the most vocal opponents is Andrea Sanchez Quiroz, a Shetland resident who moved from Edinburgh in 2020. She now lives roughly 130km (81 miles) from the Rosebank site. “I have three children, and I want them to have a stable climate, and fresh water and food available,” she told Al Jazeera. Since 2021, she has been part of the Shetland Stop Rosebank movement, fighting against damage to local marine ecosystems, including the protected Faroe-Shetland sponge belt, and broader climate breakdown. Background Rosebank sits in the North Sea between Scotland and Norway, and has been the subject of fierce legal and civil resistance for years. In 2023, Equinor received initial government permission to begin drilling, but development stalled when Uplift and Greenpeace launched a legal challenge. The resulting January 2025 ruling stated that consent for both Rosebank and Shell's Jackdaw field had been granted unlawfully because downstream emissions were not properly considered. The legal reset meant that Adura had to restart the approval process, which formally began in September 2025. The company argues that Rosebank is consistent with the UK's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. But energy transition researcher Greg Muttitt counters that climate change is a global problem, and what matters is the cumulative impact of all fossil fuel extraction. He told Al Jazeera that Rosebank could be justified only if the UK or other countries shut down a significant number of existing oilfields—something he called “not a very plausible situation.” Beyond climate concerns, Rosebank is entangled with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Aberdeen-based Ithaca Energy holds a 20 percent stake in the project. Ithaca is a subsidiary of the Israeli conglomerate Delek Group, which the United Nations has blacklisted for its activities in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Delek also supplies fuel to the Israeli military and police through its subsidiary Delek Israel. Dave Black, energy apartheid campaign lead at the Aberdeen chapter of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), described Delek as a “key actor within the Zionist infrastructure in terms of energy extraction and making significant profits that are flowing to Israel.” Since 2020, Delek has received more than $1bn from Ithaca's North Sea operations. If Rosebank and the adjacent Cambo field—wholly owned by Ithaca—are approved, those profits would increase. In January 2026, SPSC sent a notice to the UK government raising concerns about potential breaches of international law, including failure to meet the obligation to prevent genocide. Former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf amplified those concerns. While the Scottish government lacks jurisdiction over offshore oil and gas, a spokesperson told Al Jazeera that “ministers would also expect the UK government to take the UN database seriously into account in its decision-making.” Why It Matters Rosebank represents far more than a single oilfield. For environmental groups like Uplift, it is the litmus test for whether the UK government will honor its climate commitments. “Rosebank is the key climate test for this government,” said Robert Palmer, Uplift's deputy director and a member of the Stop Rosebank coalition. “The science is really clear that going ahead with Rosebank is just not compatible with the