Just Transition for the Grangemouth industrial cluster: discussion paper

Monitoring and Evaluation

Ensuring that Just Transition plans are adaptable and iterative is an essential aspect of this process. Doing so will ensure a degree of flexibility for longterm economic planning, where not every development can be predicted, and will enable the plan to respond to changes in technology, costs, global markets, policy and the environment. Not knowing every intervention required between now and 2045 should not be a barrier to starting the transition.

A suitable monitoring process will be adopted for this plan and capacity for wide ranging input into possible changes should be maintained through a comprehensive framework.

Central to our monitoring and evaluation approach is identifying and developing appropriate quantitative indicators that we can use to track our progress towards our regional outcomes for Grangemouth and wider national outcomes. These indicators will be tracked alongside tailored evaluations of flagship policies and continuous monitoring of key delivery metrics. Measuring the fairness of the transition to a net-zero society needs to capture a wide range of dimensions.

Our baseline research and vision will provide further evidence to establish a robust overview assessment of the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster and tangible targets, identifying current impacts. The outputs from this research will provide an important baseline against which to track progress in addressing inequalities.

GFIB will establish the correct links with wider programmes of work such as NSET, and sectoral Just Transition Plans, ensuring the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster is connected with the wider monitoring of Scotland’s Just Transition to net zero, and will develop a series of its own KPIs to inform progress of the plan against the vision for 2045.

Finally, it is important to note that Just Transition planning is a new approach to policy development and decision making. Following completion of the plan, a full evaluation of the process will be conducted alongside relevant impacts assessments. It was proposed that GFIB would work with industry, the workforce, and local communities to understand the best way to develop sectoral Just Transition plans, sharing learning that could inform the approach taken at other large industrial sites; a comprehensive evaluation will allow for this knowledge transfer to take place.