GREENS PUBLISH OIL INDUSTRY SUBSIDY FIGURE, PUSH FOR DECOMMISSIONING ROLE FOR INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND
Green Yes, the Scottish Green Party's campaign for a Yes vote in the independence referendum, today (14 Sep) has published new figures which for the first time estimate the public subsidy behind big oil company profits.
The campaign has also published a detailed report by a leading oil finance author, showing the options an independent Scotland would have to position itself as a world leader in offshore decommissioning and publicly owned renewables.
The subsidy figure reveals that oil companies receive around £1billion worth of tax breaks from the UK Government every year - that's roughly £190 from every Scot.
Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow and Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, said:
"As Scotland debates its future, discussion over oil has tended to focus on extracting every last drop and burning it, when we know we simply can't afford to do that for economic and environmental reasons. What has also been overlooked is the huge subsidy we're all giving the big oil companies. Now that figure's out in the open we should consider the logic of continuing such massive tax breaks.
"Big oil companies are already throwing their weight around as the vote nears, and an independent Scotland should be prepared to stand up to that. If Scotland remains part of the UK we will struggle to assert control; with a Yes we can build a genuinely sustainable economy, reducing our reliance on a declining industry and instead growing the clean technology of the future."
We place the average tax break at around £1.15 billion per annum for the entire UK Continental Shelf. The Scottish proportion of this is approximately 90 per cent or roughly £1.05 billion per year. The 90:10 split is based on Scotland’s geographical share and commonly used.
This total figure is an estimate based on a combination of Government and industry estimates but very limited data.
The Green Yes graphic includes illustrations of what £1 billion could deliver instead of subsidising oil industry profits: more renewables, childcare, 25,000 extra teachers, 28,000 extra nurses.
Green Yes Energy Independence briefing - report by Mika Minio-Paluello