ALEX Salmond has called for the drilling of the Cambo oil field to go ahead but on the condition its developers help pay for a carbon capture plant in Scotland.
The former First Minister and SNP leader, who now leads Alba, criticised his successor Nicola Sturgeon for making clear her opposition to the exploitation of the 800 million barrel field off Shetland.
Salmond spoke out after several figures in the SNP in the north east, where the majority of the 100,000 jobs supported by the oil and gas industry are based, warned that rejecting the Cambo proposal would be worse for the environment and severely harm the economy.
He went on to argue that Scotland could contribute to fighting the "existential crisis of global warming and to protect and preserve livelihoods of working people" in a number of ways.
READ MORE: Ineos boss 'absolutely shocked' over snub to Scots carbon capture project
The first he said was to ensure that the Scottish Government took out a stake in every new renewable energy project in Scotland, a policy that was followed by the Norwegian Government with oil fields allowing a massive fund to be built up for the public good.
He went on to say a second strategy was to make sure that the developers behind Cambo and any other new fields contributed to the Acorn carbon capture project near Aberdeen.
The massive scheme which would allow carbon dioxide produced from oil and gas to be sent back under the North Sea through an established pipeline network.
However, despite initial indications the massive Scottish scheme did not get financial support last month from the UK Government which instead backed two smaller projects in the north of England.
"Now wind energy it is already our biggest and cheapest way of generating electricity and, from offshore wind alone, Scotland could soon produce five times or more our own electricity requirements," he said in an article in the Sunday Mail.
READ MORE: Leaving Cambo oil in the ground would be a gamble we can't afford to take
"It will also produce billions of annual revenues and thus we should move right now to demand a Scottish public stake in every major wind energy field, just as the Norwegians did with their oil a generation ago."
He added: "But Scotland has a further means of responding to the climate emergency. We have Europe’s best sites for carbon capture in the “saline aquifers” of our part of the North Sea.
"That is the process of taking the carbon dioxide produced from oil and other carbon industries and sending it back from whence it came into the geological formations of the North Sea through the established pipeline network.
"The Tory Westminster government have just stabbed Acorn -the latest ambitious Scottish proposal for carbon capture- in the back just as its Labour predecessors did with previous projects. But with effective campaigning it can be revived quickly.
"Without Scottish carbon capture neither the UK or Scotland will meet the climate targets solemnly pledged in Glasgow just a few days ago. With it we make a serious contribution not just to our own carbon reductions but to the whole of Europe’s. That is the extent of the potential.
"And we should make the oil majors pay. Cambo should be licensed but with a condition for it to be a zero carbon development. The only way that can be achieved is to help finance carbon capture.
"Shell Oil is a company who just a few years back said there were no remaining big oil fields in the waters around Scotland. Now they want to buy into Cambo, one of the very biggest and one which will produce for Shell many billions of profits. So make them and the other developers help pay for pioneering carbon capture.
"That is the sort of development vision which engages Scotland’s resources for the benefit of our people and for the protection of the planet. With it we can lead the world in responsible production of our energy resources as a proud and independent country.
"Without it then it is not just farewell to tens of thousands of North East of Scotland votes for the SNP. Much more seriously it’s Mossmoran no more, Grangemouth no more, St Fergus no more - and independence no more."
Last Tuesday Sturgeon said that she did not believe that the Cambo development should go ahead in a shift from her position of demanding environmental impact assessments. The decision will be taken by the UK government.
Salmond raised concerns about the First Minister's position, suggesting the Scottish Government would be unable to afford its policy of a "just transition" where people employed in oil and gas are moved into work in the renewable industry sector as fossil fuels are scaled back.
"Of course the Scottish Government claim that they will establish a fund to ensure a “just” transition away from oil and gas. This is interesting.
"Cambo is expected to generate $40 billion over the next quarter century. And that is just from one field. How exactly is a devolved government going to deploy that sort of funding?" he said.
"Over the last 40 years the UK Treasury has accumulated some £300 billion in today’s money from the North Sea. But the Scottish Government claim to be able to fund the “just” transition themselves.
"There is an old saying in the national movement that most countries got filthy rich from discovering oil and gas but Scotland might just get filthy!"
Speaking in Holyrood last week, the First Minister had made clear why she now opposes Cambo.
“I don’t think we can go on extracting new oil and gas forever, that’s why we’ve moved away from the policy of maximum economic recovery and I don’t think we can go and continue to give the go-ahead to new oil fields," she told MSPs.
“So, I don’t think Cambo should get the green light.
“I am not the one taking that decision so I’ve set out a proposal for the climate assessment and I think the presumption would be that Cambo shouldn’t and wouldn’t pass any rigorous climate assessment."
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