Making the Future - second Just Transition Commission: initial report

Membership

Chair

Jim Skea

Professor Skea was appointed Chair of the first Just Transition Commission in September 2018 and was re-appointed Chair for the second phase in 2021. He is Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London with research interests in energy, climate change and technological innovation. He is currently Co-Chair of Working Group III (Mitigation) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and was the Scottish Champion for the UK's Committee on Climate Change until December 2018. Between 2012 and 2017 he was UK Research Council's Energy Strategy Fellow. He was President of the UK Energy Institute between 2015 and 2017. He is internationally recognised as a leading climate scientist. In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to sustainable transport and in 2013 he was awarded a CBE for services to sustainable energy.

Commissioners

Lang Banks

Lang Banks is one of Scotland's leading environmentalists. He has worked for global conservation organisation WWF for over a decade and has been integral in their work addressing issues relating to climate change, clean energy, and marine protection. Lang was appointed Director of WWF Scotland in 2013. Since 2019, he has also held the position of Deputy Executive Director Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK. A biologist by study, his interest in the natural world stems from childhood and has led to him becoming an influential and dedicated environmentalist. Lang served as a member of the original Just Transition Commission, between 2019 and 2021. In a voluntary capacity, Lang is Chair of the Postcode Innovation Trust, which provides grants and loans to support social enterprises as well as innovative funding for charities. Lang regularly tweets and blogs about these and other subjects.

Ameena Camps

Ameena Camps is a Research Analyst at Zero Waste Scotland, with over 15 years of experience in energy, climate change mitigation and local development, working across a variety of sectors such as government, community and academic sectors, both locally and internationally. One of Ameena's recent accomplishments includes the delivery of Uist Wind: a challenging, community-owned wind farm which aims to generate over £2 million in community benefit over the lifetime of the project, and was presented with the Best Engagement Award at the Scottish Green Energy Awards in 2020. A geoscientist by training, Ameena holds a PhD in carbon capture and storage. Ameena is a voluntary Director of Community Energy Scotland and volunteers as a member of the Scottish Islands Federation Island Decarbonisation Working Group.

Colette Cohen

Colette Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer for the Net Zero Technology Centre, an organisation committed to the research and development of technology to accelerate the Oil and Gas industry's transition to an affordable net zero future. Colette has worked in the industry for more than 25 years, both in the UK and Internationally for BP, ConocoPhillips and Centrica E&P, where she was the regional VP for the UK and the Netherlands. Colette has a degree in Chemistry from Queens in Belfast, a masters in Project Management and Economics from CERAM in France and an honorary PhD from Aberdeen University. Colette was also awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Queen for services to the Oil and Gas industry. Colette is the Chair of the National Composites Centre and sits on the boards of Technip Energies, NORECO and DeepOcean. Colette is an active champion for the industrial transition of the oil and gas industry to a net zero future and a committed role model for women in industry.

Elaine Dougall

Elaine Dougall is Regional Co-ordinating Officer at Unite the Union and Lead Officer for Energy and Utilities for Unite Scotland. She has worked for Unite for 16 years originally as Unite Equality Officer and has worked across various sectors during that period including Not for Profit, Food and Drink, and Local Government. Elaine is a Member of the STUC General Council and STUC Women's Committee. She has been an active member of the union for 30 years and worked in Glasgow City Council for 20 years, representing members across Glasgow City Council as a workplace representative and latterly Convenor.

Richard Hardy

Richard Hardy is the National Secretary for Scotland and Ireland at the trade union Prospect, representing members in Government, Energy, Defence, Nuclear, Creative, Technology, Science and Heritage Sectors. He is a member of the STUC's General Council, and has worked on Scottish Government stakeholder bodies including the Longannet Taskforce, the Sustainable Renewal Advisory Group and the Tourism Taskforce. He was a Commissioner on the first Just Transition Commission. Richard is an experienced Senior Trade Union Official, having been a full time officer or lay activist for over 30 years, working across a variety of employment sectors. He was previously a Negotiations Officer with Prospect/IPMS for over 16 years in the NW, Midlands and London. Richard has been based in the Edinburgh office since 2014, becoming the National Secretary in 2016. Prior to joining Prospect, Richard worked in Government IT. Richard holds a degree in Modern History from the University of London, and is a graduate of the TUC/Harvard Law School Leading Change Programme.

Katie Gallogly-Swan

Katie Gallogly-Swan works on advancing a global just transition at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Prior to joining the team, Katie worked at Oxfam and ActionAid as well as a range of grassroots organizations in Scotland focusing on economic, climate and gender justice. She is Convenor of the Scottish Women's Budget Group and sits on the Programme Advisory Group for the MSc in Climate Justice at Caledonian University. Katie holds a BA in Social Anthropology from Harvard University, where she won the Hoopes Prize for exceptional research, and a Master's in Development Studies from the SOAS University of London, where she won the Development Studies Postgraduate Prize.

Rajiv Joshi

Rajiv Joshi is an economist, community organiser and entrepreneur currently leading Bridging Ventures, a global effort working to accelerate a just transition to a thriving and regenerative future through catalytic collaboration and systems change. He serves as an Advisor to Columbia Climate School and convened the Climate Action Lab in Glasgow at COP 26. Raj is a lead author of the Decisive Decade Inquiry into the Future of Climate Action – commissioned by Chief Architect of the Paris Agreement, Christiana Figueres, and Oxford Saïd Business School where he was an Executive in Residence. He was the first Managing Director of The B Team, where he served from inception in 2012 until 2019, working with eminent leaders to redefine the role of business in society. Raj was instrumental in galvanising adoption of a Net Zero emissions goal, as a Founding Board Member of the We Mean Business Coalition and the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance.

Jake Molloy

Jake Molloy worked offshore in the oil and gas sector for 17 years before being elected as the General Secretary of the independent oil workers union OILC in 1997. After merging with RMT in 2008 he became the RMT Regional Organiser with responsibility for all offshore energy activity which includes engaging and organising divers, seafarers, catering, engineering, drilling and now renewables sector workers. Jake has participated in a number of industry forums including Oil Spill Prevention Recovery Advisory Group (OSPRAG) dealing with the impact of the Deepwater Horizon environmental disaster, the Helicopter Safety Steering Group (HSSG) looking at helicopter safety in the sector after a number of fatal accidents, the Step Change Leadership Group which engages workers in offshore health, safety and environmental matters, and more recently the Scottish Government (SG) Energy Jobs Task Force, the SG Strategic Leadership Group and the UK Government North Sea Transition group.

Rachel McEwen

Rachel joined SSE in 2007 and has been responsible for sustainability, including SSE's climate change strategy, since 2013. Rachel is also a non-Executive Director of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, the SSE subsidiary that owns and operates the electricity distribution and transmission networks in the north of Scotland. External to SSE, Rachel pursues a series of social justice issues and was Chair of the Leadership Group of Living Wage Scotland between 2014 and 2018 and is a Board member of both the Fair Tax Foundation and the Poverty Alliance. She has a first degree in Applied Economics and a Masters in International Political Thought.

Ann Pettifor

Ann Pettifor is the author of The Case for The Green New Deal (Verso, 2019). In 2008 she jointly co-authored the original The Green New Deal (New Economics Foundation). In 2017 she published The Production of Money (Verso) on the nature of money, debt and banking. She is best known for predicting the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-9 with her book: The Coming First World Debt Crisis (Palgrave, 2006). In 2020 she accepted an invitation to chair the board of directors of the Edinburgh-based company A-Deus, an innovative, community- based clean energy company for delivering clean energy in Africa and elsewhere. She is the 2018 recipient of the Heinrich Boll Foundation's Hannah Arendt Prize and in 2022 was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Helsinki for her work on the international financial system.

Ronnie Quinn

Ronnie Quinn is Chief Executive of NECCUS, the membership organisation supporting and representing members through the challenge of industrial decarbonisation primarily through Carbon Capture and Hydrogen. He has over 30 years' experience in general management, with specific experience in the renewables and electricity industries. Ronnie's professional career began as a solicitor where he worked both in private practice and in local government. He then moved into the electricity markets' sector where he was Managing Director of the company administering the market in Scotland. Ronnie has worked for The Crown Estate where he led the transfer of its functions in Scotland to Scottish Ministers, being Crown Estate Scotland's first Chief Executive. More recently he has been the Interim Chief Executive for the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. Ronnie also sits on the Board of Management of City of Glasgow College.

Mark Reed

Mark Reed is a Professor of Rural Entrepreneurship and co-Director of the Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre at SRUC. One of the original architects of the Peatland Code, he is now helping develop carbon codes for other habitats and advising UK governments and the United Nations on the development of high integrity ecosystem markets. Professor Reed is chairing a SEFARI Strategic Advisory Group with representatives from across the UK policy, investor and landowning communities, to understand opportunities and threats from "green lairds" and investment funds that want to rewild Scotland to help reach net zero targets. He advises the Scottish Government on natural capital and ecosystem markets as a member of the Agricultural Reform Implementation Oversight Board, which is helping shape the Agriculture Bill, to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament next year.

Satwat Rehman

Satwat Rehman is the Chief Executive of One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS). OPFS is the leading charity working with single-parent families in Scotland, providing expert advice, practical support and campaigning with parents to make their voices heard to change the systems, policies and attitudes that disadvantage single parent families. She has more than 30 years' experience in the voluntary and public sector in Scotland and England, working in the fields of equalities, education, employability, economic development/regeneration and early years and childcare. Since joining OPFS in 2011, Satwat has been a member of several commissions and advisory groups including the First Minister's National Advisory Council on Women and Girls and the Scottish Government's Social Renewal Advisory Board. She is on the boards of Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland, Child Poverty Action Group (UK), Children in Scotland and is Chair of Intercultural Youth Scotland.

Ray Riddoch

Ray Riddoch is an established energy industry leader with a career spanning 40 years both in the UK and overseas in the oil and gas industry. During this period Ray worked for several international E&P operators. Ray has significant experience in Operations Management, and Projects Management. Also held senior roles for extended periods in HS&E, Business Development, Human Resources and Technical Audit. Over the years he has held several board positions in industry organisations and served as HRH Prince of Wales, Ambassador for his charity, Business in The Community [BITC] in Scotland for three years. He was appointed a Fellow of the Energy Institute in 2017, awarded the OBE for services to the oil and gas industry in 2019, and awarded a Doctorate in Technology from RGU in the same year. Ray retired as CNOOC International MD in May 2020 and has taken up a patron position with the charity ARCHIE.

Nick Robins

Nick Robins is Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance with the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Nick has over 20 years' experience in sustainable finance in banking, investment and financial regulation. A core focus of his work is how to mobilise investment for a just transition, and he is the founder of the UK's Financing a Just Transition Alliance. Nick is author of The Road to Net Zero Finance for the UK's Climate Change Committee and leads the finance platform for the Place-based Climate Action Network working with Climate Commissions in Belfast, Edinburgh and Leeds. He is also co-chair of the International Network for Sustainable Finance Policy Insights, Research and Exchange (INSPIRE).