South of the border, fossil fuel divestment is being urgently promoted by people at demonstrations, although they seem to think it is a imposition to put on big businesses rather than something that any rational business should be thinking about anyway.
The reason I say that is that the cost of carbon is steadily rising as environmental (Pigouvian) taxes and charges mount up. This seems a one way street as governments commit more and more to binding climate change targets. Large scale extraction companies and energy users essentially rely at the moment on not having to cover their full costs in terms of ongoing pollution or long term clean up.
Until very recently however, the SNP and Scottish Green financial plans seemed to rely on North Sea Oil and Gas for tax revenues. During the Indyref I frequently spoke to people who thought this was the solution to all Scotland's financial problems. Quite aside from the structural issues around either the "Dutch Effect" or a massive drop in oil prices, there is the long term problem that that industry is ultimately doomed. Countries such as Australia that are similarly extraction biased are open to the same problem.
At present the SNP and the Greens seem to talk about dealing with climate change without realising the effect it would have on a standalone Scottish economy.
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