Grangemouth closure shows need to ensure net zero doesn’t cost jobs

As Scotland’s only oil refinery, which has been an essential part of our industrial landscape since 1924, it is a historic moment. The economic impact will reverberate across Scotland and the UK.

But for the workforce, it will be an extremely distressing time. That is why we have immediately announced a package of measures to support Grangemouth and the surrounding areas, with a targeted skills intervention for impacted workers and an enhanced Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal.

We will put all of our energy into creating new opportunities for the workers in and around Grangemouth.

But there are undoubtedly new opportunities for the refinery too. Although we believe that the decision to close the site is premature, we are supporting Project Willow, which is Petroineos’s cross-site study to examine future low-carbon options for the site.

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Because if the shock of the decision to close the refinery means anything, it highlights the urgency of ensuring that our transition to net zero does not cost jobs or livelihoods, which is why the publication of our Green Industrial Strategy on Wednesday was so timely.

It starts with the premise that Scotland has been twice blessed – first with oil and gas in the 1970s and now with a plentiful supply of renewable energy. We have an embarrassment of renewable riches – from wind to hydro. So, as the world transitions, there are massive opportunities for Scotland. But that means nothing to workers who are facing redundancy now, if we only promise potential jobs in the future. We need to create the new jobs now, and that is what the Green Industrial Strategy is all about.

It has a clear and powerful mission: “To ensure that Scotland realises the maximum possible economic benefit from the opportunities created by the global transition to net zero.”

The strategy identifies five priority areas where we believe Scotland’s greatest strengths lie and our work will be most effective.

Those are offshore and onshore wind; the hydrogen sector; carbon capture, utilisation and storage; green professional and financial services; and supporting the electrification of heavy industries, such as chemical and steel manufacturing and paper mills.

There is already so much good work in these areas happening.

Workers walk through GrangemouthYou will know how proud I am of the role that the Highlands is playing in the transition already. Once seen as a region that needed extra government help, it is now outperforming other regions with its contribution to the transition.

Investors are taking an active interest in the infrastructure, talent and opportunities in the Highlands. One example is the Japanese company Sumitomo, which has confirmed its decision to build a £350 million high-voltage-cable manufacturing plant at Nigg.

It is estimated that the plant will create around 330 jobs and bring £350m of inward investment into Scotland. The company could have gone anywhere, but it chose to come to Scotland. More than that, it came to the Highlands.

And we know that the highly skilled energy workers – in Grangemouth, the Highlands and Islands, the North East – are going to be the ones who continue to bring that investment into Scotland, which is why we must also invest in their future.

Expertise in oil and gas provides us with a world-class workforce and existing strong offshore supply chains, as well as infrastructure that can be repurposed to sequester carbon in the North Sea or support pipelines for hydrogen, for example.

Add to that our geographical proximity to European markets and a strong culture of research and development, and Scotland has a recipe for green economic success.

Given the scale of Scotland’s renewables potential, and the need

for investment so that potential can be realised, the inertia we have seen for decades from the UK Government is frustrating – to say the least.

At the same time as announcing £22 billion worth of spending cuts, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves closed energy sector investment allowances in the small print of her financial statement.

Indeed, Labour look as if they have created a “worst of all worlds” scenario where you starve industry of investment, put at risk the jobs of those who can deliver net zero, don’t bring down bills, and impact the economy of Aberdeen – while at the same time fail to invest the money required to truly capitalise on the energy transition.

And warm words about GB Energy are of cold comfort when the exact nature of this company remains unclear, as does how it will bring down energy bills as Labour promised throughout the election campaign – especially given their £28bn green investment pledge was cut by more than 83% before they even took office.

Indeed, we want GB Energy to act as a boost for Scotland and to work with initiatives that are already happening. Rather than GB Energy coming in and duplicating work that is already under way, we want it to come in alongside that work and build partnerships. That is something I am very clear on.

The First Minister has been clear with ministers, and our wider SNP team – that our job is to pursue and secure investment in Scotland, and there is no greater area of opportunity than the transition to net zero.

We want to work with industry to capitalise on the opportunities that are in front of us and, where we agree on the way forward, to work constructively with the UK Government to secure that investment.

Our shift to green energy provides us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – and it’s vital that we don’t let it go to waste.

So, whilst we do everything we can to support the workers at Grangemouth, we also want to build a new world where multi-million-pound distant owners don’t determine the future of our nation, it is rather the people and communities who hold our destiny in their hands.