Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s firms are responsible for almost a third of the greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland that have to be recorded by industry, it has been claimed.
During 2017, 11million tons of emissions – mainly carbon dioxide – were produced by companies in Scotland which have a mandatory duty to report them.
Firms owned by Ratcliffe produced 3.6million tons of CO2 that year, according to data released by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.
Official figures suggest the billionaire’s companies are responsible for about 10 per cent of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas
emissions.
Petroineos, the sprawling crude oil refinery which dominates Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, churned out 1.6million tons of harmful gases into the atmosphere.
Four other Ratcliffe-owned companies – Grangemouth CHP, Ineos Chemicals, Ineos Infrastructure and Ineos FPS Ltd – combined to generate a further 1.95million tons of greenhouse gases.
Green MSP Mark Ruskell called on Ineos to rise to the environmental challenge of air pollution.
He said: “Ineos is Scotland’s biggest polluter and there is no way we can tackle the climate emergency without an enormous effort and investment on their part.
“I hope that Ineos will quickly wake up to the challenge.”
Ineos was contacted for comment yesterday.
