What can Scotland’s energy past tell us about its net zero future? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
At our most recent Scottish Energy Forum (SEF) briefing in Edinburgh on the 17th June 2026, Dr Ewan Gibbs of the University of Glasgow took the audience on a journey through Scotland’s energy history – not through the usual lens of policy papers, engineering milestones or political slogans, but through the lives of the people who experienced it first-hand.
Introduced by SEF Board member, Lubica Slabon, the event offered a timely reminder that energy transitions are not neat lines on a graph. They happen in homes, workplaces, towns, islands and communities.
Dr Gibbs described his work as “a people’s history of Scottish energy”, and that phrase set the tone for the evening. His talk moved from the coalfields of Fife and Ayrshire to the petrochemical sites of Grangemouth and Mossmorran, from nuclear power at Hunterston to oil developments in Shetland, and on to today’s offshore wind debate. The result was a wide-ranging but deeply human account of how energy has shaped Scotland’s economy, identity and sense of possibility.
One of the most striking ideas of the evening was “carbon citizenship” – the post-war belief that producing energy should mean more than keeping the lights on. It should bring secure jobs, better housing, stronger communities and a share in national progress. In the coal era, that promise felt real for many. Nationalisation, trade union strength and access to stable work helped build not just an industry, but a way of life.
But, as Dr Gibbs showed, energy transitions also leave scars. The decline of coal from the 1960s onwards exposed how quickly communities can be asked to carry the cost when decisions are made elsewhere. Oral histories from former miners, oil workers, engineers and Shetland residents brought that point vividly to life. For some, new industries meant skilled jobs, higher wages and fresh opportunities. For others, they meant displacement, environmental unease and the unsettling feeling that change was being done to them, not with them.
That tension feels especially relevant now. With the closure of Grangemouth, the decommissioning of Hunterston and questions over how much local benefit offshore wind will really deliver, Scotland’s next transition is already under way. Dr Gibbs’ message was not that people are opposed to a greener future. Far from it. Many workers he interviewed recognised the need for change. What they questioned was whether this transition would genuinely value their skills, protect their communities and give them a voice in what comes next.
The seminar ended with a clear challenge for policymakers, industry and anyone working in energy – do not treat the past as background noise.
Scotland has been through major energy transitions before, and the memories of those transitions still matter. If the country is to build a fairer, cleaner energy system, it will need more than technology and targets. It will need trust, local benefit and a willingness to listen to the people whose lives are being reshaped once again.