CLIMATE campaigners have lifted the veil on Scotland’s “polluted politics” in a new report.
Friends of the Earth Scotland has found that fossil fuel industry representatives met with MSPs a staggering 790 times over the last five years, amounting to six meetings every working week.
SNP ministers have been top targets for these cosy get-togethers, with former net-zero minister Michael Matheson holding 78 meetings alone, almost 10 per cent of the total, but opposition MSPs have also been wooed.
Labour’s Lewis MacDonald was courted 21 times until his 2021 retirement, while Tory Liam Kerr leads the opposition list with 28 meetings.
Friends of the Earth has also raised alarm bells over the flow of hospitality — in both directions — between Holyrood and oil and gas giants.
Former energy minister Paul Wheelhouse was whisked off to Florence twice for an industry jamboree, meeting with BP and Shell chiefs.
But the corporate hospitality flowed in the other direction too, as world leaders converged on Glasgow in 2021 for the United Nations climate change conference (Cop26).
In one of the 14 catalogued meetings between first ministers and the industry, Nicola Sturgeon hosted David Bunch of Shell, Louise Plutt of BP and David Bryson of Uniper at a £11,000 Edinburgh Castle bash.
The FoE called on the Scottish government to adopt the kind of rules in place at UK level to keep the tobacco industry out of policy-making for oil and gas.
It said: “Scotland’s progress in implementing the economic changes necessary to decarbonise has been too slow and, where they have been constructed, renewable energy systems are bringing few jobs.
“Fossil fuel companies benefit from this lack of progress and remain a hugely powerful obstacle to change.
“In 2022 North Sea oil companies BP, Shell and Equinor made $143 billion (£112bn) in profit.
“Every major oil company remains fully committed to exploring for new sources of fossil fuel.
“A just transition to a safe climate future can only be achieved if we end the pollution of our politics by fossil fuel companies.”
Offshore Energies UK’s Jenny Stanning said: “We will continue to engage proactively with Scottish government, and indeed politicians of all parties, to make sure we can fully grasp the opportunities of the energy transition.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “As part of our support for this transition, the people of Scotland would expect the First Minister to engage constructively with major employers and industries in Scotland, as he does with all sectors of society.”
