New SNP climate action minister meets fossil fuel chiefs 'about once a fortnight'

Scotland's new minister for climate action has held meetings with the fossil fuel industry roughly once a fortnight over the last year, lobbying data shows.

SNP MSP Gillian Martin is now under pressure from green groups not to wobble on the transition to clean energy despite her longstanding connections to the North Sea industry.

The Record can reveal the Nats politician has been lobbied at least 20 times by oil and gas-linked companies and groups since she was first appointed as energy minister in late March 2023.

And the investigative website The Ferret previously revealed how Martin spent a decade as a spin doctor for fossil fuel firms prior to getting elected in 2016.

The Aberdeenshire East MSP kept her spot in government in new First Minister John Swinney’s reshuffle last week - and was given the newly-created role of minister for climate action.

It comes amid a furious row over the Holyrood government’s abandonment of a key 2030 emissions target that was deemed no longer achievable by experts.

That led to the collapse of the SNP-Greens coalition deal and ultimately to ex-FM Humza Yousaf’s downfall.

Martin, who answers to Net Zero Cabinet Secretary Mairi McAllan, has been warned she must now prove “she has not been listening to the oil and gas lobbyists whose ploy is to delay the energy transition”.

Friends of the Earth Scotland said that must start with blocking a proposed second gas power station in Peterhead which they claim will damage national climate efforts.

In a report into oil lobbying at Holyrood in January, the eco charity found Martin had taken dozens of meetings with fossil fuel representatives since 2018, including before and after she became a minister.

Climate campaigner Alex Lee said: “Failing to deliver climate action was instrumental in the downfall of Humza Yousaf so Gillian Martin has a huge job to get Scotland back on track to meet our climate commitments and bring down pollution within this crucial decade.

“She should take this opportunity to rethink the disastrous plan to scrap the 2030 targets and the desperately weak list of measures intended to catch up.

“Strong climate action like improving public transport, ensuring homes are well insulated and creating clear pathways to good green jobs is popular, necessary and will improve people’s lives.

“The Minister must show that she has not been listening to the oil and gas lobbyists whose ploy is to delay the energy transition and to keep Scottish homes and businesses trapped using expensive fossil fuels for decades to come.

“This must start with a complete rejection of the plans to build a new gas burning power station at Peterhead.”

Latest transparency data shows Martin has held at least 20 meetings with industry figures since her appointment as energy minister through to the end of December 2023 - a rate of about one every two weeks.

They include meetings with execs from firms like BP, Shell and Scottish Gas Networks.

The Ferret previously revealed Martin was the manager of an “emergency media response team for oil and gas companies for 10 years” prior to her election in 2016.

The Scottish Government had missed its legally binding annual emissions reduction targets in eight out of the last 12 years.

Scrapping the 2030 target to slash emissions by 75 per cent as well as the annual targets in a statement last month, Net Zero Secretary McAllan announced a raft of climate measures in a bid to get the country back on track.

But many of the policies were slammed as “baby steps” and “reheated” - including a pledge for an integrated national ticketing system for all public transport first promised by Nicola Sturgeon back in 2012.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “It is quite right that Scottish Ministers meet with a diverse range of organisations, including major employers and industries, in the course of their duties.

“People in the north-east of Scotland and throughout the country would expect the energy minister to engage constructively with those industries, many of whom are involved in renewable energy in addition to traditional energy sources.

“The Scottish Government is fully committed to a just transition to a climate resilient and net zero Scotland by 2045.”

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