The Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) has called for a new body independent of government to oversee the UK’s net zero transition and energy security.
With the industry being used as a “political football”, the Chamber stressed that a non-partisan organisation is needed as this is what it will take to bring long-term thinking and political stability to the sector. In a similar vein to the Bank of England, which has had maintaining monetary and fiscal stability as its central mission, this new body should be tasked with developing recommendations able to command cross-party consensus and ensure the sector can be insulated from any political policy shocks in the future.
It made the claim in its Energy Transition Survey, where it also found there are historically low levels of optimism around the business outlook in the North Sea over the short-term; 30% of the work being carried out by firms in the sector is already outside of oil and gas, and will grow to 50% in the next seven years; profitability and return on investment is the biggest barrier to firms diversifying, though the political and regulatory environment is not far behind; and cutting access to investment capital and funding is negatively impacting activity – especially internationally.
