SCOTLAND’S long-delayed energy strategy will tackle when demand for oil and gas will end, the SNP’s Just Transition Minister has confirmed.
Richard Lochhead also warned that Scotland could be left with a skills gap as he braces for workers to flock to carbon capture projects south of the border – putting Scotland’s just transition strategy at risk of failure.
The Scottish Government delayed the publication of its first energy strategy since 2017 from the spring until the autumn – with Mr Lochhead telling The Herald that the document will address “supply and demand issues”.
Speaking at SNP conference in Aberdeen, he added: ”The Scottish Government is publishing its refreshed energy strategy soon.
“It’s a huge piece of work and it’s going to be underpinned by a lot of evidence that we have commissioned for the first time at Scottish Government level and Scotland’s demands and supply for energy.
“It’s going to be quite headline-grabbing once it comes out and goes public.”
Campaigners and independent advisors, the Climate Change Committee, have previously called for the UK and Scottish governments to set an end-date for oil and gas demand to give workers and the industry clarity over the just transition.
Mr Lochhead was asked whether not setting a date to end oil and gas demand would lead to the 2045 net zero target becoming a cliff-edge for workers in the oil and gas sector.
He said: “The energy transition, which has to be a just transition, cannot be a cliff-edge – at the heart of that has to be the planning and managing the future over the next couple of decades.
“I’m confident we can avoid a cliff-edge.”
SNP MPs and MSPs saw off an attempt by party activists to demand carbon capture and storage is used in policy only once a "full-scale independent study" is carried out to prove the technology will be effective and value for money.
But the chief executive of the Scottish and UK governments’ independent advisors, the Climate Change Committee’s Christ Stark, has previously told the Herald that alternatives should be drawn up after a Scottish project was not prioritised for funding, delaying it for years.
But Mr Lochhead, who is responsible for ensuring the oil and gas workforce are moved to clean energy jobs, has issued a stark warning that a UK Government decision not to prioritise a carbon capture project for Peterhead with funding could lead to skilled workers leaving Scotland to projects prioritised in the north of England.
Asked about the issues that could put the just transition at risk, Mr Lochhead said: “There’s one issue that keeps me awake at night on the just transition and it’s skills.”
He added: “There’s a worry in the business community in north east Scotland that all the skills and the people who work here and going to go ‘I’m sorry but I’m going to have to go and work on this project down there now’.
“So once we get the go-ahead for the Acorn project up here, where are we going to get people from? This is catastrophic what the UK Government are doing to Scotland just now.”
Yesterday, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told delegates that “Scotland’s economy has many strengths” adding that “when it comes to energy, we are truly a global power house”.
He added that “Aberdeen’s economy, like Scotland’s, must transition from its reliance on oil and gas”, stressing that it must be a transition “that takes our people, communities and businesses with us”.
He said: “Since oil was discovered off Scotland’s shores in the 1970s, the Treasury has raked in more than £300 billion in tax revenues.
“Next year is set to be see the highest oil revenues on record. So it stands to reason, that the UK should also be joining us in supporting Aberdeen.
“Not least, that in their time of need, the UK Government turned to the North Sea for a windfall tax.
“The UK Government are only interested in Scotland when there is money to be made, not when there are jobs to be saved.
“Our renewable future has been held back by erratic and irresponsible UK policies.”
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