Environmentalist group WWF Scotland said the oil and gas industry should not be “handed even more” tax-breaks in tomorrow’s spring budget.
Director Lang Banks made the comments in response to OGUK’s annual business forecast, which called on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to offer the struggling sector further help.
OGUK chief executive Deirdre Michie wants the Treasury to extend the investment allowance to operational activities that are focused on maximising economic recovery as well as revising the tax treatment of decommissioning liability.
But Banks claims that the Treasury should aim to support the transition to a lower carbon economy.
He said: “While our economy will continue to rely on oil and gas for some time to come, this should not mean that the fossil fuel industry should be handed even more in the way of tax-breaks and subsidies to keep drilling.
“The climate science is clear that the vast majority of known fossil fuels need to remain in the ground and not burned.
“If there are to be any type of incentives they should be to support a just transition that enables us to harness the engineering skills currently deployed in the oil and gas industry and apply them to supporting clean renewables instead.”
