There’s little doubt the world needs to move away from its reliance on polluting fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
World leaders will gather in Glasgow later this year for the Cop26 climate conference.
They’ll hear from experts on just how little time is left to make meaningful change to the way we live our lives if we are to confront climate change.
This is a global problem but it impacts the smallest communities.
And it’s not just rising temperatures and threats to the environment.
Much of Scotland’s economy, like that of numerous other countries, has become reliant on the oil industry over the last 50 years.
The North Sea energy boom was an economic lifeline in a country that had lost nearly all its other heavy industries. It provided highly skilled jobs at a time when unemployment was rocketing.
It’s little wonder many Scots are nervous when they hear talk of a green transition.
But, as Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater says in today’s Record, we will have to move away from our reliance on North Sea oil eventually.
She argues a green transition is not about losing jobs, it’s about creating sustainable jobs.
Many firms in the North Sea oil supply chain are already working in the renewables sector.
What is needed is to drastically scale up Scotland’s renewables industry so it can offer even more skilled jobs.
We can’t risk a premature shutdown of the oil and gas sector if it’s going to cause mass job losses.
Scotland has already endured the pain of deindustrialisation.
We have to get the transition to renewables right and make sure it works for everyone.
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