Nicola Sturgeon will visit Aberdeen today to call for an initial £1 billion investment in the north of Scotland’s low carbon future.
The first minister is arguing for future oil and gas tax revenues to be ring-fenced in a Net Zero Fund to boost the transition to a net zero economy.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projects that over the next five years such revenues will be worth £8.5 billion.
The Scottish Government believes every penny should be ring-fenced to support long term investments in tackling the climate crisis.
It and the SNP have made a clear commitment to move to net zero climate emissions by 2045 and have challenged UK parties to match that ambition, investing the tax revenues from oil and gas in low carbon energy, transport, infrastructure and jobs.
The SNP will argue that at least £1 billion of the fund should be set aside to support a just transition for areas like the north-east, Falkirk and Shetland, where the oil and gas industry is a major employer.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “We must do everything in our power to tackle the climate crisis and Scotland has set the most ambitious legal targets in the world.
“But we also have to ensure that areas like the north-east, where the economy has been built on the oil and gas industry, are supported to make the transition to new low or no carbon industries.
“Aberdeen and the north-east are already playing a major part in Scotland’s renewables revolution.
“By ring-fencing the current tax revenues from oil and gas in a Net-Zero Fund and investing in a just transition we can deliver real benefits to these communities and to our environment.”
Ms Sturgeon added: “The SNP has long argued that revenues from oil and gas should be invested for the long-term, rather than fund day-to-day spending.
“Westminster failed to set up an oil fund, where Norway’s is now worth $1 trillion and is investing hugely in the low carbon economy.
“We should seize the opportunity to ensure we do not waste future revenues in the same way.
“We need to take urgent action to diversify our transport and energy sources, and to speed that up, tax revenues from oil and gas should be invested directly in the transition.
“The SNP will never argue for the oil and gas industry to be shut down
overnight.”
