Why pragmatism is key to reaching net zero and saving energy sector from cliff-edge collapse

Politicians need to promise less and deliver more when it comes to a ‘just transition’ from fossil fuels to renewables

As John Swinney and Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay both accused each other of “bare-faced dishonesty” during a debate about the oil and gas industry and achieving net-zero carbon emissions, the world became ever-so-slightly warmer and North Sea jobs inched closer to a ‘cliff-edge’ collapse.

It was a depressing continuation of the kind of rhetoric being used about an issue that is crying out for more substance from all involved. Ministers at Holyrood and Westminster have long been guilty of talking a good game – setting bold targets to reduce emissions and speaking piously about a “just transition” – while doing far too little to ensure either of these things actually happen.

The closure of the Grangemouth refinery is a warning sign of how badly the situation has been handled and why greater efforts must be made, by government and the energy companies themselves, to ensure there is no repeat of the mass jobs losses that devastated mining communities in the 1980s.

The closure of Grangemouth's refinery is a warning sign about what may happen to other parts of the oil and gas industry (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

Ballot box backlash

Achieving net zero by 2045 – Scotland’s target is now just 20 years away – or 2050 will be hard. It may not be possible. But we should still be heading in that direction, for the sake of the environment but also to modernise our economy.

A vital part of making that progress is the consent of the public. Governments that rely on high-handed diktats or place unreasonable expectations on people will only create a backlash at the ballot box that threatens the whole project.

Last year, Chris Stark, then chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, suggested to MSPs that the argument over new oil and gas licences was a distraction, saying that without them North Sea gas production would fall by 97 per cent and with them it would still fall by 95 per cent. But at Holyrood yesterday, on it raged.

With the UK recording its warmest start to May on record – temperatures hit nearly 30C in southern England – we still need to take climate change and its economic effects more seriously. We cannot ‘just stop oil’ tomorrow, but we must also avoid convincing ourselves that the world is not warming and we have no part to play in cooling it down.