Just transition needs public ownership

A new report calls for public control over fossil fuel assets in the North Sea to ensure a timely and just transition. It also explains why the privately-owned, for-profit fossil fuel industry is incapable of safely and fairly winding down oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. 

The Common Wealth think tank briefing, Public Coordination of a Just North Sea Transition, says the winding down of fossil fuel production in the North Sea is inevitable and necessary.

But it warns that as long as the wind-down is managed on the terms of profit-seeking companies, “the result will be a disorderly divestment where workers and frontline communities pay the price”.