'Just transition in action'? How Scotland's oil and gas workers are being failed
The journey to net zero is about modernising Scotland’s economy as much as fighting climate change
It is one of the most important tasks of our times, perhaps even the most important. How Scotland manages the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will largely determine the economic fortunes of this country for decades.
Fail, and communities in the North East and beyond face devastation as highly paid jobs are lost, with Scotland reduced to a technological backwater and used as little more than a platform to generate low-carbon electricity from its wind and waves.
Succeed, and Scotland could become a global leader in marine renewables, producing countless well-paid engineering jobs and replacing at least some of the tax revenues lost as the North Sea’s oil and gas reserves gradually dry up.
‘Far more needs to be done’
The fate of hundreds of workers made redundant following the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery is a test case of how alive the Scottish and UK governments are to the potential threats and opportunities, and how well they understand their role in avoiding the former and seizing the latter..
Speaking at a ‘just transition’ summit in Edinburgh, John Swinney announced that companies wishing to access a £25 million government fund set up to help develop new industries to secure Grangemouth’s future would need to give “priority consideration” to former Grangemouth workers when hiring. The plan, developed with trade union Unite, was “a just transition in action”, the First Minister said.
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However, while Unite’s regional secretary Susan Fitzgerald welcomed the scheme, she added: “We continue to demand concrete action for workers during the energy transition... far more needs to be done to support new jobs in greener industries.”
The journey to net zero is as much about modernising and future-proofing Scotland’s economy as it is about fighting climate change, a real, serious and pressing problem that cannot be ignored as demonstrated by increasingly extreme weather events.
Following a report earlier this month which found that for every three jobs lost in oil and gas, only one had been created in clean energy, The Scotsman argued that the situation was tantamount to a national emergency.
At present, Scotland is failing in this most important task, and ministers need to urgently show signs of progress, starting at Grangemouth.
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