North Sea oil and gas will remain a significant part of the UK’s future, according to the country’s government. For a nation which has recently been praised for decarbonizing at a faster rate than any other – down 51% between 1990 and 2020 – an apathetic North Sea Transition Deal will undermine its promises to accelerate towards net zero emissions by 2050. Drilling for oil and gas wells will one day be replaced by hydrogen production, carbon capture and offshore wind. But for now, according to the deal announced on Wednesday, the conservation of 40,000 existing jobs will be placed at the heart of a sluggish transition away from oil and gas – primarily in Scotland and the North East…