The UK's offshore energy producers are expected to invest more than £200billion in the next few years to provide the nation with secure and increasingly low-carbon energy.
This emerged in new research out last night from Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), which has also stressed the need for a "stable and predictable" set of rules for governing the way the industry is taxed and regulated.
The trade body has assessed the spending plans of offshore energy companies operating in the North Sea and other UK waters, looking at their investment plans between now and 2030.
The findings suggest around 60% of the investments will be spent building renewable and low-carbon energy infrastructure, such as offshore wind and systems for capturing CO2 for permanent disposal in deep rock formations.
OEUK said such investments are just a fraction of what is needed for the UK to reach net zero - the point at which it generates no overall greenhouse gas emissions. The UK Government's target for achieving this is 2050.
The trade body adds that the Office for Budgetary Responsibility has put the cost of reaching net zero at £1.4trillion and has said £1trillion of this money must come from UK companies.
Rising profits for UK oil and gas producers have prompted calls for a one-off windfall tax to help UK households grappling with rising household bills. Labour has estimated this would raise £1.2billion over the year ahead to provide targeted support to households and businesses.
But a windfall tax would be a major blow to Aberdeen, which is the oil capital of Europe, as it could badly hit sector confidence and lead to a downturn in North Sea activity.
And research published by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce last week revealed that the Treasury has already banked £1.5billion more in oil and gas receipts in the first three months of 2022 than it did over the same period in 2021.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at the weekend that his government was supporting the oil and gas sector, but he added: "We want a clear plan from industry to reinvest profits in the North Sea and clean technology."
OEUK said yesterday that some companies have already set out their investment plans. Earlier this week, BP announced proposals to invest up to £18billion in the UK's energy system by the end of 2030. Most of its plans are for offshore wind and other low-carbon projects such as mass hydrogen production and CO2 capture.
The trade body's research suggested that the biggest investments in the years ahead in the UK would come from oil and gas companies transitioning to low-carbon alternatives, and that offshore wind would be the biggest beneficiary.
Ross Dornan, OEUK's market intelligence manager, who oversaw the research, said he expected to see offshore energy companies investing up to £150billion in renewable and low-carbon projects, plus another £90billion in oil and gas projects by 2030.
He added: "The UK's energy companies are leading perhaps the most ambitious and far-reaching energy transition our nation has ever seen. They are providing the UK with energy now, mostly from oil and gas, while working to replace those fuels with low-carbon alternatives.
"It means we must invest in our existing oil and gas reserves to protect the UK against the global prices spikes and possible shortages generated by crises like Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while also spending billions on the energies of the future.
"The amounts being spent are far greater than any sums that might be raised by a windfall tax, but what policymakers need to understand is the sheer scale - not just of the investments but also of the ambition. The UK could become a world leader in low-carbon and renewable energy, but to achieve that we need long-term thinking by planners and policymakers.
"Above all we need a stable and predictable set of rules governing the way the industry is taxed and regulated.
"If those rules keep changing it will undermine confidence, drive investors away and make the UK's net zero targets impossible to achieve."