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Scotland’s leader, Nicola Sturgeon, said on Wednesday that the nation must accelerate its transition from fossil fuels, but this must be done in a way that creates new opportunities and jobs in renewable energy and carbon alternatives.
“Science tells us we are running out of time and the planet is in serious trouble,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of COP26 in Glasgow. “Against this background, we have an obligation to try to increase our ambition as much as possible.”
But Ms Sturgeon said the current reality of Scotland is dependent on oil and gas, not just for their energy needs, but also because the 100,000 people in the country have jobs that depend on fossil fuels.
Scotland’s senior elected official, Ms Sturgeon, said she was well aware of how the loss of heavy industries such as coal and steel in Britain had increased unemployment, as she had grown in the 1970s and 1980s. He said Scotland needs to carefully manage the transition from fossil fuels.
“What we need to do better in Scotland is, to be frank,” he said, “what we don’t do well enough and what we need to be better at is to capture more of the economic benefits of renewable technology, not least to support a fair transition from oil and gas.”
Most wind projects in Scotland are foreign investments. “We welcome them,” said Ms. Sturgeon, “but we have yet to reap the benefits in our own business and supply chain.”
Speaking in a Times event series accompanying the UN summit, Ms Sturgeon said: carbon capture and storage is an important way to deal with carbon emissions. However, Scotland failed to get support from the British government to develop a carbon capture and storage facility in Aberdeenshire.
Ms Sturgeon, who clashed with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on key issues, including her handling of the pandemic and Brexit, argued that Scotland, as an independent nation, could better manage on its own to move away from fossil fuels. as part of the UK.
Reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions is a priority, he said.
Ms. Sturgeon, in a move that shocked the oil and gas industry over the summer urged UK government to reconsider licenses It has already been given for offshore oil fields that are still in the planning stage. He spoke of “the seriousness of the climate emergency we are facing right now.”
Ms Sturgeon said she is hopeful about the leaders’ ability to make significant progress at COP26.
“Potentially, 100 years from now, I hope people will look back at this peak and identify Glasgow as truly the right crossroads for our planet,” he said.
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