Chamber and committees

I come to John Boland to address the question of the definition of a just transition and whether there is a shared understanding of that.

You mentioned communities. Are there tensions there, and is there enough effort to resolve them? Is it a case of, if we do something one way, it will benefit one group of people, but another group of people might not benefit so much? How do we resolve those tensions? That is what I am talking about: a shared understanding of what a just transition is.

Brian Whittle has a quick supplementary question.

A lot of the discussion this morning has been about a skills transition for people who were in employment in the oil and gas sector so that they can move over to the renewables sector, but what does it mean to call it a just transition? Are there different areas? What should be measured? What makes it a just transition rather than just a transition from one sector to the other?

Our next item of business is the second evidence session in this part of our just transition work, in which we are looking at a just transition for the north-east and Moray. The context of the inquiry is the Scottish Government’s target for net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045. Moray and the north-east will play a significant role in that, and the committee recognises the challenges that they face. That is why we are looking at the action that is required to support, incentivise and de-risk the transition in ways that will benefit businesses and the community.

Today’s evidence session comprises two panels of witnesses. First, I welcome John Boland, who is a regional officer at Unite the union; Emma Harrick, who is the head of energy transition and supply chain at Scottish Renewables; Mia McCarthy, who is the head of sustainability at SSE Group; and Maggie McGinlay, who is the chief executive of ETZ Ltd. Members and witnesses are asked to keep questions and answers as concise as possible so that we have time to cover all areas.

I will start by asking the panel members to reflect on what their understanding is of a just transition for Moray and the north-east. One of the areas that the committee is looking at in the inquiry is definitions. Is there a shared understanding of what we want to achieve? Perhaps Emma Harrick would like to address the question first.

Yes, if you could, because a recurring theme in the meeting has been that we recognise that there are skills gaps, but nobody is exactly clear where they are, how many people we need, or how we will get to the end point. If you have information that could help with that, that would be appreciated.

We are interested in whether there is enough knowledge and data. If we are looking at a place-based just transition, what can we measure? Is there anything that is tangible that we could see within a local authority area?

Before we move to questions from Brian Whittle, I want to stay with the planning issue. Jim Grant, you answered the first question, which was about whether the planning system enables a just transition. We have to achieve our climate targets at pace. Does the current planning system recognise that, or is it presenting difficulties with or barriers to achieving change at the pace that we need to see?

Thank you. Brian Whittle, did you want to ask a couple of other questions?

I will bring in Gordon MacDonald, who also has questions about the fund.