In preparing this report the Commission has instructed a small research team at the University of Glasgow, Dr Ewan Gibbs and Riyoko Shibe, to undertake this work recording the perspectives of workers at Grangemouth on behalf of the Commission over recent months. This report contains critical insights from interviews with workers at Grangemouth and places their experience in its historical and economic context. We hope this research report will support policy-makers and others with decision-making power in shaping a transition for Grangemouth that is fair for the workforce at the site.

This report analyses reflections from a research project that recorded interviews with workers from the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemicals complex. Our interviews focused on responses to the November 2023 announcement by Petroineos that they intend to close the oil refinery in 2025. We have interviewed workers across age ranges who span across terminal, petrochemicals, refining and contracting positions.

Over and above important distinctions in their sense of their own economic security, workers universally reported not feeling consulted on major decisions regarding their future. They are concerned for the impact on the community in Grangemouth, Falkirk, Bo’ness and more largely across Central Scotland. There was a unified view that government at Scottish and UK level had failed to preserve economic and energy security or provide a pathway to a future which uses relevant skills to establish renewable energy employment at the site. Some workers had heard the term just transition before, but all were agreed that they were not experiencing one.