How the UK gov’s decisions are killing off Scotland's 'Just Transition' to renewables
The “just transition” was the promise that, as Scotland phases out North Sea oil and gas production, our workers and communities won't be abandoned as the miners were.
The green energy boom was supposed to give Scotland high-paying jobs, lower household bills, and a strong supply chain. People coming out of oil and gas would transfer their skills, not waste them.
But this is not happening. There are green jobs - but nowhere near enough to make up for all the skilled jobs being lost. Meanwhile, Scottish families and businesses are paying some of the highest bills in Europe and also suffering some of the highest rates of fuel poverty, nearly three times the UK.
Here we list some of the key energy decisions the UK government has made that are killing off Scotland’s just transition
1 - The UK gov decided to push the oil and gas industry off a cliff
The UK gov decided to push the oil and gas industry off a cliff. The Labour government turned a deaf ear to pleas to turn the windfall tax into a framework that would have given industry more certainty and the ability to invest more in renewable energy generation.
Experts - like Paul de Leeuw of the Energy Transition Unit at Robert Gordon University made a strong case for the UK to take a different course. But they fell on deaf ears
Instead of taking a whole-sector approach to energy, the UK gov’s incompetent planning caused the wholesale destruction of jobs and investment that Aberdeen has seen in recent years. BP is exiting the North Sea; the field as a whole is haemorrhaging jobs. The Labour promise to Scotland in the last election was that GB Energy would create 1,000 jobs in Aberdeen - there are so far only a handful.
2 - It failed to step in to save Grangemouth and then failed to invest in a plan for sustainable aviation fuel
Grangemouth was a major producer of diesel, petrol and jet fuel. Approximately 15% of the UK’s diesel was produced at the Grangemouth refinery. Its closure has put extra pressure on diesel prices in Scotland and the UK. The UK gov stepped in to save British Steel in Scunthorpe but let Grangemouth close.
Adding insult to industrial injury, while Westminster claimed it didn't have the funds to step in and save Grangemouth, it emerged that the UK Government’s own export credit agency handed a staggering £600 million (€700 million) financial backing guarantee to INEOS billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build a massive new plastics and petrochemical facility - Project One -in Antwerp, Belgium. British taxpayer-backed money was used to bankroll industrial infrastructure in Europe, while Scottish assets were left to rot.
Even before it was closed, a proposal to make it a hub for green aviation fuel was covered by Business for Scotland back in 2024. Westminster promised investment - but it's no surprise that this never materialised.
An SAF sector would have needed new market mechanisms put in place. Because those energy market regulations are reserved to Westminster, Holyrood cannot establish them.
Westminster holds all the levers to attract and manage this kind of investment. It has not chosen to do so. It must have known all along that without such a framework, there would be nothing for Grangemouth.
3 - The UK vetoed the Ming Yang wind turbine factory
The world’s largest wind turbine plant was due to be built at Ardersier near Inverness in the Highlands. It was a huge deal that took the Scottish government years of hard work to win. It was the Highlands' biggest regeneration project.
The Chinese firm Ming Yang, which was proposing to build the world’s largest wind turbine at Ardersier near Inverness in the Highlands, has now confirmed they are looking at options in Europe.
The UK Labour government blocked the plan - undercutting long years of hard work by the Scottish government to win the £1.5 billion, which would have been the Highlands' biggest regeneration project. That was despite their backing for Chinese-linked projects in other parts of the UK.
Now Arderiser lies mostly empty after its expensive renovation - meanwhile Ming Yang is looking at a deal with Norway instead,
4 - Now the UK’s boot is looming over ScotWind
A looming decision by the UK looks set to kill off most of the projects that were planned via the ScotWind auction, which sold the right to build renewables off Scotland’s coast. If that happens it will kill the confidence and the supply chain of the whole Scottish sector.
Writing in the Herald, head of policy at Prosper, an economic think tank, Gareth Williams recently wrote:”Sixteen projects are currently being developed in our waters with a total projected spend of £25.5bn in the supply chain. Together, these projects will build the confidence and scale which attracts investments in manufacturing, operations and maintenance, and provides thousands of new skilled jobs. Yet it is understood that only two of the six pathways which will be presented to the Secretary of State include all of these Scottish schemes.” He argued this spells disaster for the renewables industry of Aberdeen and the north.
5 - Privatisation left Scotland with a zombie infrastructure
Almost a quarter of every Scottish energy bill paid goes straight to company profits rather than on investment in our energy infrastructure. In contrast, bill payers in independent, energy-rich countries enjoy affordable bills. Their systems benefit citizens, wellbeing and the economy.
A Thatcher government that Scotland did not elect privatised our energy grid in the late 1990s. That allowed private entities to buy national assets and load them up with corporate debt. They focused on maximising short-term payouts to shareholders.
While other countries poured government money into getting ahead of the curve as the energy mix changed, the UK was left with outdated Victorian-era infrastructure, a Zombie grid.
Privatisation led to decades of underinvestment and biased choices which disadvantaged Scotland. For example, the fragmented, private-led UK energy system did not support technologies that could have evened out demand spikes - like pumped storage hydro in Scotland. So Scotland, once a world leader in hydro saw nothing built for 40 years.
6 - A grid connection system that penalises Scotland
Scottish generators pay the highest rates to connect to the grid in Europe despite the country having the greatest potential for renewable energy. It emerged in 2022 that energy generators in Scotland would be forced to pay £465 million in transmission charges by 2026 while those in England and Wales will get a £30m subsidy.
While other countries use a postage-stamp-style system (the same price regardless of location) to connect to national-owned infrastructure, Scottish energy companies have to pay much more for connections. That means that many of these projects are marginal and more at risk of cancellation. It also boosts the profits of the companies that own the grid.
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince commented recently: “Another example of a private monopoly failing us - National Grid have been making an average £5 billion a year for the last five years - while failing to invest what’s needed to keep our grid up to scratch - we pay the annual £2 billion cost of that failure, while they pocket £5 billion. And it could be £8 billion a year by 2030. It’s another outrageous failure of Thatcher’s dogma - privatisation. We need to take National Grid under control, not ownership - and force it to do the job we need, not the job its shareholders would prefer.”
7 - The rejection of regional pricing
One way that other countries deal with having energy-rich areas far from population centres is to make energy cheaper there, boosting the local economy and attracting business. Sweden, the US, Australia and many other countries have localised tariffs for energy. But the UK decided not to do that.
This choice means that power which cannot be moved to England, where the centres of population are, becomes worthless. Rather than allowing Scotland to use cheap energy to attract industry, the UK gov prefers to pay wind companies more to turn off the turbines when the cables to England are full. In the long term this will mean either Scotland builds huge pylons to take energy south - or we don’t make use of our energy at all.
Conclusion: The UK makes energy strategy without considering what Scotland needs
When it comes to energy, Westminster clearly does not have Scotland’s best interests at heart. Why should it? Scotland has about three per cent of seats in the UK Parliament, little electoral clout.
Scotland can look at other countries some of which don’t have our natural resources and see energy policies that prioritise affordable power for citizens and businesses not profit for vulture capitalists. The difference is that those other countries have power over their energy resources.
A just transition was never a priority for Westminster, just an election lie by London Politicians - only with independence can Scotland focus on Scotland’s needs.
