On a hillside in Eryri National Park, where wildfire has stripped the vegetation to blackened earth, activists have delivered a blunt message to Britain's new prime minister. The giant artwork, visible from the Sychnant Pass near Conwy, reads "Our house is on fire, Andy" and shows Andy Burnham tipping a barrel labelled "oil and gas" onto flames.
The installation, created by Greenpeace and the art collective A Letter From Lucy, uses eco-friendly, plastic-free paint designed for sports pitches. It echoes Greta Thunberg's 2019 warning to world leaders that "our house is on fire" — a phrase that has become a rallying cry for climate action.
The timing is deliberate. The action landed on the final day of a public consultation on Rosebank, the UK's largest undeveloped oil field, with a parallel consultation on the Jackdaw gas field having closed a week earlier. Both projects were originally approved before a Scottish court ruled their consents unlawful in January 2025 for failing to account for emissions from burning the extracted fuel. Developers have since resubmitted revised environmental assessments, and ministers now face a final decision.
A summer of climate extremes
Burnham, who took office as prime minister just weeks ago, has yet to address the climate crisis in any public statement. That silence comes as the UK endures its warmest summer on record, with five heatwaves and drought conditions covering nearly three-quarters of the country. More than 27 million people are living under water restrictions.
Greenpeace cites an estimated 2,700 excess deaths linked to the May and June heatwaves. Maja Darlington, a campaigner with the group, said the burden is falling hardest on those least able to avoid it: "The climate crisis is already hitting working people hardest — firefighters on the front line, bus drivers exposed to inhumane conditions, nurses collapsing on the job."
Darlington rejected the government's framing of its policy as pragmatic. "There is nothing pragmatic about watching communities be battered by climate chaos while the Prime Minister flirts with expanding the very industry driving it," she said. "This summer has been an endless showreel of fossil-fuelled disasters playing out across the country."
Rosebank and Jackdaw under scrutiny
Campaigners have branded Rosebank a "carbon bomb". Estimates cited by Greenpeace put its lifetime emissions at 254 million tonnes of CO2 — equivalent to nearly 70 per cent of the UK's entire annual emissions in 2024. Oxfam research cited by the group suggests that if both Rosebank and Jackdaw go ahead, their combined lifetime emissions "would contribute to an estimated 65,495 excess heat deaths globally — equivalent to wiping out the entire population of Clacton-on-Sea".
Burnham's deputy, Lucy Powell, has described the government's stance as a "change of emphasis" rather than a policy reversal. She said the government remains committed to Labour's manifesto pledge not to issue new North Sea licences, but that Burnham wants to "work with the industry" so oil and gas can continue contributing to the energy transition "over the long term".
The prime minister's approach has drawn criticism not only from environmental groups but also from within his own party. The protest comes as the UK faces mounting pressure to align its energy policy with its climate commitments, particularly as households across Europe take energy matters into their own hands.
The artwork is expected to remain visible for several weeks, serving as a stark reminder that for many, the climate crisis is not a distant threat but a present reality. As Darlington put it: "The government's approach is not pragmatic — it's a gamble with people's lives."
