Grangemouth redundancies are the apex of the UK’s unjust green transition
Published: 7 March 2025
Commentary
The closure of Grangemouth oil refinery and the loss of over 400 jobs highlights the failure of government promises for a fair energy transition, leaving workers facing uncertainty, poor planning, and limited support for new green jobs.
The issuing of redundancy letters to more than 400 workers at Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland demonstrates the folly of promises of a just transition. Oil refining is set to end in Grangemouth in May, after more than a century, with the site being replaced by an import terminal which further exposes the UK to volatile global energy markets.
Grangemouth is Scotland’s largest industrial site and a historic hub of energy employment. In the aftermath of 2024’s general election, Labour and SNP ministers promised a renewed effort to transition workers to green jobs following the closure announcement in November 2023.
We interviewed refinery and petrochemicals workers last year. They articulated frustration at the wasting of their skills and the likelihood many of them would be forced to leave the town and possibly the UK. One refinery worker said that their whole team were weighing up opportunities in Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Several workers underlined how important the site was for the supply chain and regional economy. A Scottish Enterprise study completed by PwC found that approaching 3,000 jobs depend on refining in Grangemouth.
We asked someone who’s worked as a skilled trades contractor on and off at the site over several decades about government commitments towards transforming Scotland’s industrial base towards green manufacturing. They gave a one word answer: ‘sceptical’.
Despite the extensive lead in period of a year and a half, no concrete proposals have yet been announced. Instead, governments have been left scrabbling in response to the whims of the refinery owners, Petroineos, a partnership of the privately-owned INEOS, and the Chinese state-owned PetroChina.
Neither is subject to meaningful public scrutiny or social responsibility for the Grangemouth workforce and community, whose efforts have sustained Britain’s energy economy for a century.
Both the UK and Scottish governments funded a study known as Project Willow in the longer sunnier days in the aftermath of the July general election. We have since been through most of a long dark winter and yet Willow still has not formally reported. Coverage of leaks indicates that it envisions a future in activities such as biofuels or green hydrogen.
These would need to be secured through investors and funding, however. Keir Starmer’s late announcement of £200 million for Grangemouth in his Scottish Labour conference speech on 23 February potentially goes some way towards meeting these needs, but details remain scant. Workers will be somewhat heartened that he offered wage protections for up to 18 months, but he has not addressed the looming ‘jobs gap’ between carbon and greener forms of production.
Workers in their twenties, thirties and forties want to be part of a transition. They anticipated a future in green manufacturing in line with their employer’s promise of a ‘Grangemouth Renaissance’.
The distress at Grangemouth is the reality of Britain’s unjust energy transition. All the features we see unfolding at Grangemouth are visible in other parts of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Bad planning, unaccountable business power and reactive government policy are present across our energy regions. They will likely be accompanied by further job losses in already struggling places and the wasting of life chances for committed skilled workforces.
This article first appeared in The Times Thunderer, February 2025.
First published: 7 March 2025