Grangemouth Industrial - just transition plan: supporting a fair transition for Scotland's core manufacturing cluster

Ministerial Foreword

In November 2024, the Scottish Government published its draft Grangemouth Just Transition Plan for consultation. There, we outlined both the historic and critical role that Grangemouth has played in shaping Scotland’s industrial heritage, and the important role we want it to have in shaping our net-zero future. For over a century, the industrial cluster has been a source of high value employment and the output from businesses, driven by dedicated and highly skilled workers, has contributed hugely to Scotland’s economy.

However, the industrial cluster now faces a time of unparalleled change. This has manifested prominently in the cessation of refining at Grangemouth - a facility which has played an important role in maintaining Scotland’s energy security for decades. For many, this has been an uncertain time and nowhere has this been felt more acutely than by those who live and work at Grangemouth.

Beyond the refinery’s closure, many of the challenges outlined in our draft plan, remain the backdrop to operations at Grangemouth, presenting a significant risk to securing a sustainable, low carbon future for the site.

However, the Scottish Government remains steadfast in its commitment to Grangemouth’s future, it’s transition to net-zero and its skilled and dedicated workers. We recognise the imperative for tangible and effective actions now, and have taken decisive steps to maximise our support, as far as possible. This includes;

Our £25 million Grangemouth Just Transition Fund to support industry, the workforce and community throughout this period of transition. This supplements the £7.8 million in our budget for 2025-26, providing the Just Transition Plan with up to £33 million from the Scottish Government immediately, to support delivery this year.

Our initial and ongoing support for Project Willow has rapidly considered and identified a number of alternative developments for the existing Refinery site.

A targeted skills intervention for Petroineos workers facing redundancy at the Grangemouth refinery and Finnart Terminal to support the transition of impacted workers through the job market into in-demand industries.

Signing of the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth Deal, that includes development of Grangemouth Sustainable Manufacturing Campus, the Greener Grangemouth Programme and a £4m Skills Transition Centre.

£2.8 million this year of a total funding commitment of £5 million to support INEOS’ Grangemouth’s Fuel Switching Net Zero Project, Supporting the business to switch their power source from natural gas to hydrogen, initially supported by the construction of a blue hydrogen plant on site.

However, we cannot do this alone – we rely on a broad range of partners in the public sector, business and the community to work with us to realise Grangemouth’s potential. The UK Government must commit to playing its part and stand by the community and workers at Grangemouth.

We desperately need the UK Government to commence positive changes to existing policy that enable the deployment of future commodities like Sustainable Aviation Fuel production in Scotland.

Key to the successful deployment of the Project Willow technologies is certainty regarding the future of Acorn/ the Scottish Cluster on which we continue to call on the UK Government to confirm a final decision, including a full funding package and timeline.

Project Willow has showcased the scale, complexity and significant effort that will continue to be required across all partners to ensure a long-term future for industrial manufacturing at Grangemouth, that is both climate compatible and commercially viable. But it has also highlighted the clear opportunities there too.

This plan, now finalised following recent revisions and consultation analysis, will act as the framework for all activity that supports Grangemouth’s transition– utilising agreed outcomes that span the interests of community, workers and wider business. Much work lies ahead, for industry, Governments and wider partners across the Grangemouth Future Industry Board, however we can build on the progress made over recent months.

We remain incredibly grateful to each and every person who has provided the ongoing commitment of time and knowledge taken to reach this point.

The time is now for focused action.

Gillian Martin, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy