OPERATORS at Fife’s Mossmorran complex must release de-carbonisation plans “to protect us from climate breakdown”.

That’s the call from the Kingdom’s Green MSP Mark Ruskell after Westminster announced additional funding to store greenhouse gas emissions 2.5km beneath the North Sea.

The Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage Project, based at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire, would use depleted gas reservoirs to transport captured industrial CO2 emissions to permanent storage.

On July 31 the UK Government announced funding for the scheme while also committing to support 100 new fossil fuel exploration licenses in the years to come.

Mr Ruskell has now written to Shell, which runs the Fife Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant, and Exxonmobil, which operates Fife Ethylene Plant asking them to commit to a clear investment timescale and to follow a Just Transition process that will involve workers at the site and the surrounding community.

He said: “Following the Acorn carbon capture project announcement, Mossmorran’s operators need to be clear on the way ahead.

“Both Shell and ExxonMobil have recorded astronomical profits in recent years, they must now commit to de-carbonising their Fife operations at the earliest opportunity.

“Any transition must be fair and just, with workers and the local community at the forefront.

“The report we commissioned on Mossmorran in December last year shows that a greener, fairer future for Scotland’s third largest polluter is possible but we need to get everyone around the table to make that happen.

“Now more than ever, we need to see a renewed commitment to industrial decarbonisation at the scale required to protect us from climate breakdown. We simply don’t have time to waste.”

He continued: “What the UK Government has committed to in terms of increased fossil fuel extraction is climate vandalism. We know that reducing our reliance on fossil fuels is critical to our net zero future to pretend otherwise is complete gaslighting.

“Whilst there may well be a role or carbon capture and storage in the future, particularly when it comes to decarbonising industrial sites such as Mossmorran, we cannot let it distract us from the accelerating the just and fair transition to green energy Scotland so desperately needs.

“It should never be used like it has been this week by the UK Government as a justification for more north sea drilling, which will have a devastating impact on our environment and take us even closer to climate breakdown.”

Shell says it is committed to halving emissions from operations by 2030 compared to its 2016 levels, while Exxonmobil confirmed its aim to achieve net-zero in two categories of carbon emissions by 2050.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said: ‘’We are focused on creating sustainable solutions that improve quality of life and meet society’s evolving needs. With advances in technology and the support of clear and consistent government policies, ExxonMobil aims to achieve net-zero operated Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”