Climate campaigners in kayaks have occupied the oil tanker terminal of Scotland’s largest private polluter as activism at Grangemouth ramps up.
A huge climate camp has been set up in protest against the Ineos base at Grangemouth.
This morning, four protesters kayaked into the water beneath the oil terminal at Hound Point and held banners reading ‘resist and renew’.
One of the activists entered the terminal with a banner reading ‘Ineos: profiting from poverty and pollution’.
All four activists returned to land and there were no arrests.
Read more: Scotland’s ‘biggest protest camp in a decade’ sets up near refinery
The terminal that was targeted connects directly to Ineos' oil refinery at Grangemouth, where the corporation also runs a power station and chemical plant.
The protesters have pointed to Ineos' operations at Grangemouth that have caused 2.4 million tonnes of annual emissions when last recorded by SEPA.
The company has ambitions to use fossil fuels to produce hydrogen.
Ineos has been issued with multiple fines for safety breaches, while premature deaths in Grangemouth town are significantly higher than the national average.
The firm announced profits of £474 million in 2022.
Douglas Renshaw, a website developer who took part in the occupation, said: "The workers at Ineos don’t benefit: they’re hammered with strike-bans, pay-freezes and scrapped pensions.
"The communities of Grangemouth don’t benefit: they’ve been sacrificed for the frontline of Scotland’s biggest source of CO2 emissions.
"Our lands and seas don’t benefit: they are polluted by Ineos’s plastic and emissions.
"The climate and energy crisis are already hitting us hard. We have to work together across all communities for a better future."
Dr Mairi Spanswick, a doctor who took part in the occupation, said: "If we don’t change business as usual, we will need three planet earths to sustain our lives by 2050. And we’re living on a dying planet.
“People and habitats are dying now due to emissions from companies like Ineos. Jim Ratcliffe, majority owner of Ineos, lives in a tax haven in Monaco and his house in England sits on stilts to protect from emissions-driven flood risk.
Read more: The challenge of cleaning up Grangemouth without causing economic ruin
“Yet he isn’t interested in our energy security, with 80% of our North Sea oil exported, and he’s blatantly not interested in the people of Grangemouth, where this billionaire’s profits are made in one of the most deprived areas in Scotland.
"We have a moral duty to call out profit from genocide and ecocide. As a Doctor, I have a duty to protect health and climate catastrophe is the biggest risk to planetary and human health.”
A spokesperson for Ineos said: "Ineos operates a safe sustainable business from its Grangemouth site that serves the Scottish economy well, provides skilled jobs and essential products whilst meeting its climate responsibilities.
"Ineos is one of the last remaining large-scale manufacturing companies in Scotland. We provide many of the basic raw materials that are essential to many of the products that we all use on a daily basis.
"We are committed to delivering these products safely and maintaining thousands of direct and indirect jobs, whilst working towards being a net zero manufacturer by 2045. And we are making good progress, significantly reducing the emissions from our operations.
"Since buying the Grangemouth site we have already reduced emissions by nearly 40%. Our next step, to use hydrogen and carbon capture via the Acorn project, will make our reduction >65%. Our road map beyond this will reduce this further to net zero by 2045.
"We trust those at the camp will consider the safety of themselves and be respectful to the town and those around them whilst enjoying a peaceful event."
Murray targeted over Labour's climate priority
Meanwhile, a separate group of climate protests have demonstrated outside the offices of high-profile Labour frontbenchers including Sir Keir Starmer and shadow Scottish secretary, Ian Murray.
The group, Green New Deal Rising, last week interrupted Si Keir’s keynote speech on education and have claimed the party has toned down previous commitments to tackle the climate crisis.
Activists are holding sit-outs outside key members of the shadow cabinet’s constituency offices and will organise these sit-outs every Friday until Labour agree to support a green new deal.
Read more: Rosebank oil field decision 'set to be delayed' over climate concerns
The first round of the sit-outs will take place today in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds and Hove. They are expected to grow over a number of weeks.
Fatima Ibrahim, co-director of Green New Deal Rising, said: “The Labour Party cannot take our votes for granted.
“We have tried petitions, we have written letters, we have asked for meetings. We now need the Labour party to get serious and back a green new deal.
“We will meet with Keir Starmer anytime, anywhere.”
Calum Hodgson, a member of the group from Edinburgh, said: ”We are here protesting because as Scotland’s only Labour MP, we need to see Ian Murray do more for young people in Scotland.
“He has previously written in support of a green new deal, so if he’s serious about tackling the climate crisis we need him to stand up and speak out against the Labour leadership’s current backsliding.”
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