General Election 2019: SNP Calls for Oil Revenues to be Used to Fight Climate Change

Billions of pounds of tax revenues set to be generated by the UK's oil and gas sector over the next five years should be automatically set aside to tackle climate change, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister called for a "net zero fund" to be established by the next Prime Minister which would reserve the £8.5bn of revenues expected from the North Sea for green projects.

Announcing the demand during an election campaign visit to Aberdeen, the SNP leader said at least £1bn of this sum should be used to help areas heavily reliant on the oil and gas industry.

The cash could be put back into communities such as the north east of Scotland, Falkirk and Shetland to allow for a "just transition" towards a zero-carbon economy, she argued.

Net zeroScottish Government ministers have already put through legislation committing the country to achieving net zero emissions by 2045 – five years ahead of the UK target.

However, the UK Government remains in control of North Sea oil and gas receipts, meaning that the SNP will have to convince the next Prime Minister to implement the plan.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that the oil and gas sector will raise £8.5bn in tax revenue in the next five years, with Ms Sturgeon arguing for this to be ring-fenced for a green transition.

However, she stressed that her party would "never argue for the oil and gas industry to be shut down overnight" as this would be a betrayal of communities relying on the sector.

“We must do everything in our power to tackle the climate crisis and Scotland has set the most ambitious legal targets in the world," she said.

Too timid?She added: “But we also have to ensure that areas like the North East of Scotland, where the economy has been built on the oil and gas industry, are supported to make the transition to new low or no carbon industries.

“By ring-fencing the current tax revenues from oil and gas in a net-zero fund and investing in a just transition we can deliver real benefits to these communities and to our environment."

Scottish Greens energy spokesman Mark Ruskell said his party supported taxing the oil and gas industry to pay for the transition to net zero, but criticised the SNP plan as "remarkably timid".

“If we don’t draw a line under fossil fuel exploration as New Zealand, France and others have done, there is no transition at all. No one is talking about suddenly turning off the tap, but there must be an end point," he added.