Scottish Government support for risky oil and gas subsea centre

The First Minister today announced that Scottish Enterprise will provide £4.9 million grant support towards a £31 million subsea oil and gas campus in Montrose. This centre will develop equipment to enable oil and gas extraction in some of the most dangerous and hard to access resources.

Friends of the Earth Scotland Head of Campaigns Mary Church said:

“It is very disappointing to see the First Minister claiming climate leadership one minute and announcing support for companies taking oil and gas exploration to its riskiest limits the next.

“Only last week the Scottish Government’s announcement of new climate change legislation was met with widespread criticism for failing to go far enough in tackling the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced. The last thing we need now is to be pouring public money into companies going after ever riskier and harder to access oil and gas resources.

“The climate science is clear that we absolutely have to move away from fossil fuels if we want to avoid catastrophic warming. That means planning a transition away from oil and gas that is fair and just to the workers and communities currently dependent on jobs in that sector. It means directing investment towards the low carbon economy and ensuring that good quality jobs are created here in Scotland as we move away from fossil fuels.

“The Scottish Government must take a more joined up approach to tackling the problem of climate change and developing a more resilient economy. The creation of a Just Transition Commission, a Scottish National Investment Bank and a government owned energy company provide a crucial opportunity to move in the right direction, but this will only happen if a low carbon approach is enshrined across the board in all government decision making.”