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Flashmob takes over King’s Cross and St Pancras in protest over climate-wrecking Rosebank

A hundred Climate Choir Movement members, including the Bristol Climate Choir, performed surprise flashmobs in St Pancras and King’s Cross stations to call on the government to reject the planned Rosebank oilfield.

Stop Rosebank: ‘we don’t want your dirty oil no more’

The choir performed reworded versions of Handel’s Hallelujah chorus and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, calling on the government to “stop Rosebank” and telling Rosebank’s owner, oil giant Equinor:

we don’t want your dirty oil no more.

Despite the choir infringing TFL by-laws, TFL security largely didn’t intervene. Meanwhile, members of the public responded by joining in and dancing:

Climate Choir in the station singing together in a large crowd.

Climate Choir protesters walking through the station singing.

It is the second time that the Climate Choir Movement has protested against Rosebank; in 2024 they performed a musical flashmob against Rosebank in the Houses of Parliament.

Lead campaigner for Stop Rosebank Lauren MacDonald said:

If this government is serious about its responsibility to future generations, not to mention communities around the world already facing severe climate stress, it should accept the evidence that there is no room for new North Sea projects if we’re to maintain a safe climate. This is why people are raising their voices (in four-part harmony) and why the government must reject Equinor’s application to drill Rosebank.

Rosebank is not just a really bad deal for the UK, with most of the profits going to Norway, it is a defining test of this government’s credibility on climate. The government must ignore the fossil-fuel lobbyists and instead listen to scientists, to the million people that are opposed to Rosebank and to this wonderful choir.

Climate Choir Movement musical director Kai Honey commented:

the movement to permit Equinor to drill in the North Sea is based on falsehoods. Rosebank is not going to make our bills cheaper, nor will it make Britain more energy secure. The oil from Rosebank is going to be sold on international markets. For the sake of our future stable climate on which we all depend, giving Rosebank the go-ahead is madness. We will rise up singing until the field is rejected once and for all.

Climate Choir calls on Rosebank to be stopped

Rosebank is nearly 500m barrels – making it the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea. It’s almost three times larger than Cambo. 90% of its reserves are oil, and companies are likely to export the majority of it. It is therefore unlikely to benefit UK consumers.

Burning its reserves would produce more carbon emissions than the combined annual emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries. This includes Uganda, Ethiopia, and Mozambique – home to 700 million people already suffering the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

The UK public would carry nearly 84% of development costs through generous subsidies and tax breaks – billions in public funds. Meanwhile, Equinor (which holds a majority stake) and its partner Ithaca Energy will reap the profits. In fact, the UK could face a net loss exceeding £250m, while these companies earn £1.5bn in profit.

The extraction would also harm marine ecosystems. Infrastructure like pipelines would cut through protected seabeds, threatening coral gardens, deep-sea sponges, long-lived clams, whales, and dolphins.

United in opposition to climate catastrophic Rosebank

In a major victory for climate justice, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled in January 2025 that the approval of Rosebank was unlawful. It cited the government’s failure to assess downstream emissions from burning the oil. A fresh decision must now be made, with proper environmental assessment and public consultation.

The campaign has mobilised unprecedented support: over 1 million people, 700 scientists and experts, 400 faith leaders, MPs across political parties, and organisations like WWF, Oxfam, Save the Children, and the UK Science Museum (which has cut ties with Equinor), are united in opposition.

Images via the Climate Choir Movement

By The Canary

This post was originally published on Canary.