Cost of climate change threatens to wreak havoc on Scotland's economy – Scotsman comment

News that the Grangemouth oil refinery could close as early as 2025 was a wake-up call that has prompted calls for an urgent summit about the Mossmorran gas plant

The possible closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery as early as 2025 is a wake-up call (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA)

With the publication of a new report on the cost of extreme weather during 2023 – subtitled “a year of climate breakdown” – the economics of global warming are becoming increasingly hard to ignore, even for those of us fortunate enough not to be on the receiving end of the worst damage. Climate change is far from a theoretical problem for many.

The report, by international development charity Christian Aid, found that the most expensive disaster, at a cost of more than $4,000 per head of population, was the wildfires that hit Hawaii in August, killing more than 100 people. Others to make the list were Cyclone Freddy which killed more than 1,400 people in Malawi, storms that hit Guam, and flooding in Peru. Such problems are only going to get worse and this is going to increase the pressure to tackle the problem by reducing carbon emissions caused by burning fossil fuels.

This means that economies which are heavily reliant on oil and gas – like Scotland’s – need to have a serious plan to transition to net-zero emissions in a way that avoids major job losses, massive reductions in tax revenue, and other associated problems. Failing to do this is almost as bad as ignoring the problem.

Oil and gas companies and politicians need to be working together to plot a sensible course toward a future-proofed economy. The problem is that too many politicians, like Rishi Sunak, seem to think that “maxing out” North Sea oil and gas is a plan that will survive contact with reality. It will not.

The announcement that the Grangemouth oil refinery could close as early as 2025 was a wake-up call that has now prompted a call by Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell for an urgent summit about the future of the Mossmorran gas plant in Fife. “We cannot and must not take risks with Mossmorran,” he said. The Scottish Greens may have little credibility with the fossil fuel industry because of their own failures to engage with reality but he’s right.

Metaphorically burying our heads in the sand as sea levels literally rise is a terrible combination.