A FEW weeks ago, my column considered what would happen if the world’s leaders used COP26 to start treating the climate emergency as a REAL emergency. That would need massive investment to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, requiring central bank new money creation.
Central bank finance bailed out the banking sector during the financial crash, it bailed out the economy during the health crisis and now it is time to bail out the planet.
We need a strategic and managed approach to moving away from fossil fuels and maximising Scotland’s world leading renewable energy potential. We need the Scottish Government, soon to be the new Scottish Government with its two Green Ministers, to publish a joined-up plan for Scotland to show the world how to tackle the climate crisis.
READ MORE: Lorna Slater: By doing things differently we can build support for independence
However, ill-considered virtue signalling statements on stopping the new Cambo North Atlantic oil field west of Shetland going ahead is not a big idea, it’s not clever and just offers an open goal to the opponents of climate action and of independence.
Maybe the First Minister expressing doubts over Cambo was part of the price of doing the deal with the Scottish Greens which means that now a majority Holyrood Government will demand a legally binding independence referendum.
In that case, it will be worth it further down the line. However, from now on we will need the environmental focus of the Greens to be mixed with the pragmatism of the SNP or the environmental policy changes we need will not garner sufficient support from the public to allow us to implement the changes we need.
In the last week, we have seen the spectre of Sir Ian Wood (above) rise to proclaim that it would be “absolutely crazy” for the UK to stop drilling for new oil and that it would be “detrimental, environmentally” to shut down the sector.
READ MORE: 'Absolutely crazy' for UK to stop drilling for oil says Sir Ian Wood
That’s a massive scare story and exactly what the Scottish Government asked for, offering Wood an opportunity to plant the seeds of regional economic disaster and mass job losses, despite the Scottish Government not even remotely considering shutting down the sector – thus damaging independence support in a region where we need to win hearts and minds.
The Scottish Government needs a strategic plan for transitioning the north-east into a global centre of excellence in renewable energy – more jobs, better jobs, secure jobs, a practical mix of environmental and economic sustainability – that’s what we should be selling.
The Scottish Government doesn’t have a say in whether Cambo goes ahead or not, so maybe the FM thought there was no price to pay for expressing doubt?
When Nicola Sturgeon wrote to Boris Johnson urging a re-assessment of Cambo she made a good overall point that “the severity of the climate emergency” means we need to re-assess our plans for the oil and gas but missed the opportunity to present a strategic approach to achieving our climate goals.
READ MORE: Cambo: Nicola Sturgeon's full letter to Boris Johnson on oil plan
Let’s face facts, stopping Cambo will not make one iota of difference to the climate, nada, zero. It’s not a case of Cambo’s 800 million barrels of oil being left in the ground meaning the world will burn 800m less barrels of oil and pollute less.
Other countries will just step up their production to fill the gap and Scotland’s economy will be smaller and jobs and renewables investment will be lost.
The north-east will not support independence and it’s only with independence that we can truly take the action we need to transition to renewable energy and offer the world a practical path to follow away from climate disaster.
SO, what should the FM have demanded of Boris Johnson? Well, first let’s actually tax oil companies. Since the 2015 oil price fall, the UK Treasury has offered massive tax breaks to major oil and gas companies to decommission older rigs. The decommissioning costs are therefore deducted from government revenues as stated in the GERS report, creating a larger notional deficit due to lower North Sea revenues.
Tax breaks for the major oil companies since the oil price drop had been justified as essential help for the struggling sector but the new oil fields are so much more efficient than the older marginal fields that the oil companies are more profitable at today’s $72.25 than they were when oil prices were over $100, and no other nation felt the need to offer tax-free oil extraction.
The FM should have called on the UK Government to re-introduce taxation on the industry then future North Sea revenues should be ring-fenced for sustainable energy development, specifically in offshore wind, tidal and wave development. We reduce demand for carbon fuels by developing renewables technology to meet energy demand in a cheaper and more environmentally sustainable way.
READ MORE: Cambo oil field: Boris Johnson urged to explain drilling preparation
The Scottish Government should also organise a conference of the North Sea bringing together best practices from Norway and the UK to plan how we best utilise Aberdeen and north-east Scotland’s expertise, with the aim of transforming the north-east into a global centre of excellence in renewable energy that will never run out, more than replacing the wealth from oil and gas.
This will benefit the same companies whose expertise is mostly transferable and the more they invest in renewables the more of that tax they get back in matching government investment.
Scotland got lucky discovering oil in the North Sea, but that opportunity was wasted through Westminster’s incompetent resource and financial management.
We have been lucky again with our offshore wind and wave power capacity and we cannot afford to allow Westminster to squander a second golden opportunity for Scotland’s economy to both deliver sustainable prosperity for Scotland and contribute to saving the planet.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp is the CEO of Business for Scotland and the founder of the Believe in Scotland campaign
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