CLIMATE CAMP Scotland are coming to Mossmorran this summer.

Climate Camp Scotland is an independent group of climate activist volunteers with strong links to Climate Action Scotland and Extinction Rebellion Scotland.

Their website states their aim as wanting to “shut down the fossil fuel industry, ensure a just transition for communities and workers and create a world which is defined by fairness, not inequality”.

More than eighty people from across Scotland attended a public meeting in Glasgow on Sunday, which analysed a shortlist of four sites before reaching a consensus that selected the petrochemical plant as the site for this year’s camp.

Climate Camps are a growing international phenomenon where activists set up camps over a number of days, providing a space to join the climate justice movement, to organise workshops and training and create a focus for direct action against the fossil fuel industry.

2020’s Climate Camp Scotland will take place for 5 days over a long weekend in June or July.

Mossmorran Action Group chair, James Glen, who attended the meeting with two other members of MAG, said: “We’re very excited that Mossmorran has been chosen as a focus for climate action, and very grateful for the support that this will bring from activists in Scotland and further afield".

And he claimed: "Mossmorran is Scotland’s third worst polluter, an essential link in the manufacture of plastics and a major recipient of fracked gas from the US. Despite all the rhetoric about a climate emergency and just transition, the Scottish Government has done nothing about Mossmorran apart from rubber-stamping a £140 million investment by Exxon. Shell is planning a further 50 years of operation".

He added: "Mossmorran was selected in part because of the unprecedented engagement of local residents and communities affected by the plant’s operations.

"Last year Fife Council took a historic step in recognising the plight of residents, calling for a full study into impacts, compensation and a just transition for the plant. Now the climate movement in Scotland is putting Mossmorran at the top of its agenda. Perhaps this will push the Scottish Government at long last to put the health and well-being of local communities ahead of the profits of Exxon and Shell.”

Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell has welcomed the news a protest camp has chosen the petrochemical plant at Mossmorran for its 2020 location.

Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Mark Ruskell has led calls for the plants to be transitioned away from fossil fuels and supported local residents who have suffered as a result of air, light and sound pollution as a result of flaring from the site.

He said: “As one of Scotland’s biggest polluters, it’s clear Mossmorran is the front line in the climate emergency in this country. As well as the distress it has caused local communities, it cannot continue to pump out 1.1bn tonnes of carbon dioxide every year if we are to face this crisis.

“The Scottish Government have so far refused to meet with those effected or commit to a transition away from the plant’s fossil fuel activities. That’s why peaceful protest is entirely appropriate, and I’m sure the local community will welcome this solidarity from climate campaigners. I look forward to engaging with the camp when it comes this summer.”

Neither Shell or ExxonMobil wished to comment on the news at this stage.