Grangemouth Future Industry Board minutes: February 2021

Attendees and apologies

Attendees:

• Scottish Government
• Scottish Enterprise
• Falkirk Council
• Forth Valley College
• Scottish Development International
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Scottish Futures Trust
• Skills Development Scotland
• Transport Scotland

Items and actions

Purpose

The meeting covered two substantive items:

• workstream updates – for the board to receive updates from workstream leads on their plans for the individual workstreams. Updates included: progress made since the last meeting; actions planned; risks/issues; and project milestones - allowing leads to obtain initial feedback from board members
• supporting Grangemouth’s Net-Zero Transition – for the SG policy team to provide a brief update to the board on the evolving policy landscape around Scotland’s net-zero ambitions, focussing in on the critical role Grangemouth can play in supporting delivery. A board discussion then took place on: (i) the importance of the transition for the cluster; and (ii) what the board can do to support this

Key Board decisions/points raised at GFIB meeting 3

• Secretariat will continue to develop the strategic indicators returning to meeting 4 with a substantive product
• importance of board members nominating contacts in their areas to update the policy interdependencies document so we can forward plan and start to map out the list of opportunities for Grangemouth that will generate environmental, social and economic benefits working with the key businesses to understand their needs
• Board members recognised the significance of the infrastructure workstream in all the work going forward. Meeting 4 will be infrastructure focussed to start to get a shared understanding of the infrastructure requirements at Grangemouth
• project development workstream will bring the Hydrogen Study to the board when ready to get their thoughts on it and for information sharing
• regulation needs to support all the work we are doing on transition (for both existing industrial bases and new industries to promote and build out) to protect the environment and communities around Grangemouth. New regulatory standards will need to be met as we transition and Grangemouth is recognised as an intense cluster on environmental regulations in Scotland
• Grangemouth decarbonisation is critical - 75% of all emissions from industries occur within the 7 highest-emitting sites and 6 out of 7 those largest sites are located within 50km from Grangemouth. CCC outlined in their 2020 report that one of the ways to close the gap to 2030 was to decarbonises the cluster. CCUS and Hydrogen also depend on Grangemouth. Public and private sector to develop a collective understand and agreed transition plan which outlines the role of each in developing and delivering the plan (as well as engaging with the community on this from the start). Use existing projects to demonstrate just transition to investors
• skills transition will be a key factor to sit alongside all of this work. Important to think of transitioning existing skills rather as well as training new people to deliver those skills – need to bring employers and skills together and link up the needs
• Board to think about what opportunities there are that GFIB could bring to COP26
• Board needs to understand what public (and private) sector finances are available and where GFIB can plug in

Actions summary

• Secretariat to produce strategic indicators document for meeting 4 - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Secretariat to send round policy interdependencies document and board members to nominate leads in their area to populate - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Secretariat to share letter from Cabinet Secretary TIC to CEOs with Falkirk Council before it is issued - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• SE to bring Hydrogen Study to the board when ready for their thoughts and information sharing - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Secretariat to confirm with SE is the document CS referred to in terms of partnership working with partner companies, and arrange a follow up discussion on how we would piece opportunities together - date for completion:  06/05/2021
• Falkirk Council and Transport Scotland to discuss how to decarbonise the HGV fleet at Grangemouth - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Secretariat to arrange a meeting between SEPA, Infrastructure leads and SG FPS team - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Secretariat to facilitate a discussion between SFT and SG on aligning funding schemes - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Secretariat to follow up on how we move forward mapping exercise for wider influences  - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• SE to send round latest ‘headline facts’ on economic impact/features of Grangemouth that was set out in her slide to board members - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Board members to think about what opportunities there are GFIB could bring to COP26 - date for completion: 06/05/2021
• Board members to send future agenda topics - date for completion: 06/05/2021