Tackling the energy crisis

By Ryan Morrison, Just Transition Campaigner

If the picture was clearer, I'd start here by letting you know the massive concerns we have with the approach from the UK Government to tackling the major crises we face today – but in the midst of ongoing chaos at Westminster, at the time of writing I'm none the wiser what that approach will be when this magazine reaches you.

Political chaos

Both energy bills and oil executive bonuses are rocketing. While she was Prime Minister Liz Truss introduced the Energy Price Guarantee, limiting the cost of energy for an average household to £2,500, with the Government paying energy companies’ additional costs for two years. This lasted less than a month as the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt changed the government policy to limit it to a six-month period despite warnings that bills could rise to as much as £4,000 for an average household in 2023. With the third Prime Minister this year now in power, and a fourth Chancellor to boot, people across the country have experienced a summer of extreme heat and drought before a winter where many won't be able to afford to warm their homes and there isn’t anywhere near enough being done about it.

Fossil fuel companies are being allowed to make obscene profits, while households are fearful of their next bill.

Both energy bills and oil executive bonuses are rocketing.

Oil and gas bosses are making millions

It’s no coincidence that Liz Truss failed to set out a more comprehensive approach to tackling the multiple crises we face today after a leadership bid backed with money from groups supporting more oil and gas. Instead, she gave out new licences for oil and gas companies in the North Sea, lifted the ban on fracking in England and chose to guarantee oil and gas company profits through public money, instead of using a proper windfall tax to redirect their excessive gains. It has never been clearer that this harmful energy system serves a tiny minority of people whose primary interest is their bonus or dividend payout. For the rest of us, worried about climate change and our bills, it is failing to provide warm homes and a safe climate. Against the chaotic backdrop of Westminster, the Scottish Government must seize this opportunity to speed up the transition to a reliable, affordable system powered by renewables and run in the public interest. This year it has exactly that opportunity.

It has never been clearer that this harmful energy system serves a tiny minority of people whose primary interest is their bonus or dividend payout.

Scotland’s opportunity to change the system

A new Energy Strategy for Scotland, setting out how our energy system will look in decades to come, is being developed right now. It must meet the multiple challenges we face by outlining how all available levers will be used to end the grip of the fossil fuel industry and build a zero carbon, green and just energy future.

There are huge opportunities for the Scottish Government to use its powers and money to ensure that we are less reliant on fossil fuels and therefore less exposed to their volatility, while preventing climate chaos. 81% of homes in Scotland rely on gas for their heating, our roads are dominated by fossil fuel cars and the oil and gas industry is being supported to pursue reckless tech-fixes like “carbon capture” that can’t deliver the transformation we need. Supporting a just transition away from fossil fuels is more urgent than ever. A transition which ensures our homes use renewable heat, rather than expensive gas; that takes power away from fossil fuel executives by supporting communities and councils to own their energy and use it to invest in our areas; and that sees us doing our fair share of climate action to stop the worsening impacts we see here and across the world already. Our energy system isn’t set in stone, it doesn’t have to be designed to serve the CEOs and shareholders of the big energy companies. Across Europe, we’re seeing people building energy systems that can meet our needs and protect our climate with support from their governments and councils. When the Scottish Government lays out its vision for our energy system, it must show us how they will put power in our hands, away from the global volatility of fossil fuels and towards locally controlled green energy.

Supporting a just transition away from fossil fuels is more urgent than ever.