Greens call out lack of urgency on Mossmorran transition
The Scottish Greens have criticised the Scottish Government for failing to commit to a just transition plan for Mossmorran, despite the First Minister agreeing to ‘look at all options’ for the aging fossil fuel plant last year.
The criticism comes as the Scottish Parliament debates the Government’s climate change plan, with the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee saying major action and transformational change across all sectors is now urgently required to address the climate emergency.
In a letter to the Fife Green MSP Mark Ruskell [1], Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham failed to commit to a cross party meeting to discuss the future of the plant, despite this being promised to MSPs back in October.
Mark Ruskell MSP said, “Today the Scottish Parliament will hear of the huge effort that will be needed to meet our climate change targets, with our current emissions needed to reduce by more than have in the next ten years.
“Our current climate plan simply does not contain enough detail on how we are to achieve that, and four different committees in Holyrood have now said the Government needs to step up their game and start taking a just transition seriously.
“The Government’s attitude towards Mossmorran shows just how much they are failing on this front. Back in October the First Minister promised me she would look at all options on a just transition for the plant, and I was promised a cross-party meeting with the Cabinet Secretary, but with just three weeks to go of this session of parliament it still hasn’t happened.
“As Scotland’s third biggest emitter, we can’t just keep kicking the issue of Mossmorran into the long grass. To do so would be a betrayal of our commitment to tackling climate change, and a betrayal of the workforce who need to be supported now into the clean, green industries of the future.”