The climate crisis conference in Glasgow COP26, has thrown up a familiar figure, who is giving her hard-won, well paid opinions on green energy.
Former MP The Rt. Hon. Amber Rudd (she retains her title as a member of the Privy Council) is now Chairwoman of the advisory board of Norwegian energy company Equinor, a post she has held since July 2020. As she was previously Secretary of State in the Department of Energy and Climate Change she sought the approval of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). In determining their advice Acoba wrote to Ms Rudd as follows:
On the basis of this information her appointment was approved with conditions. It is very true that Ms Rudd was not involved in policy developments or decisions that would have affected Equinor. In 2018 the Norwegian state energy company Statoil changed its name to Equinor. It seems odd that Acoba seemed to know this but obviously did no research.
Amber Rudd certainly had dealings with Statoil. Here are a couple of recorded meetings:
Presumably these meetings formed part of negotiations leading to Rudd’s approval for the development of the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank, 50% owned by Statoil
Or perhaps it was this development for Statoil to build the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland
We should also of course remember Rudd’s close relationship to her brother Roland – his PR company handles the worldwide PR for Equinor/Statoil
