Why securing a ‘just transition’ is about more than oil and gas

Iain Clunie, Programme Director, Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Net Zero Commitment

In debates around slowing climate breakdown and reaching a Net Zero target, the phrase ‘just transition’ occasionally raises its head. The term, like many in the sustainability vocabulary, is often misapplied. More often than not, it is taken to be solely a reference to moving away from oil and gas and into sustainable energy production.  It should mean much more than that.

While divesting from oil and gas production is critical, it isn’t the only industry that requires support to ensure a just transition. Food and drink is Scotland’s largest manufacturing sector, and the industry is the third largest employer through more than 17,000 businesses in communities across the country. The overwhelming majority of those businesses are SMEs and micro enterprises and do not enjoy the same deep pockets as oil and gas companies to invest in remodelling production to reduce emissions.

Our food and drink sector is one of our most successful and profitable exports, responsible in no small way for Scotland’s reputation globally. Producers need support from governments, agencies, and funding bodies to move towards Net Zero by 2045 in line with the Scottish Government’s target. Ensuring that move is equitable for both producers and consumers is critical.

Ultimately, food is the most important fuel source we have. We can find ways to live without oil and gas, but not without food.

The levers to enable a just transition are available to governments both in Edinburgh and London, and need to be pulled to support our food and drink businesses. For example, improving grid connectivity for localised green energy projects, incentivising renewable energy tariffs and regenerative agriculture, and creating a regulatory environment that rewards businesses for investment in their processes. In 2023, the Scottish Government published its ‘Just Transition: Land Use and Agriculture’ discussion paper which we hope translates into tangible action to support food and drink producers.

If our food and drink businesses aren’t fully supported by policymakers, we will fall behind our international competitors, contribute to climate change, and limit the shelf-life of the very businesses that we rely on to feed us.

Food production and  food processing are the foundations of modern civilisation. Transitioning methods of production that have been honed over millennia will not but easy, but if we want to protect our domestic producers, we all as individuals have a collective responsibility to reduce our emissions and secure the environment that we rely on to produce the food and drinks that we depend on. While we reduce our environmental impact, it cannot be to the detriment of the people who make our sector the vibrant and valuable asset that it is.

In fact, advancing towards Net Zero is demonstrably adding value to the economy rather than acting as a drag on it. Creating new industries, securing future jobs, reducing reliance on costly fuel sources, and driving operational efficiencies to minimise emissions are all positive for profitability and for people’s livelihoods.

A narrow focus from government and media - taking a just transition to only mean sectors like oil and gas -  misses the opportunity to support our £15 billion industry that is critical and strategically important to provide food security.

Fortunately, programmes like the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Net Zero Commitment are on hand to support businesses to secure their own just transition.

To find out more, please visit: https://foodanddrink.scot/helping-business/services/net-zero-and-the-environment/