Mossmorran: Petrochemical site chosen as climate change camp in Fife

Shell flaring seen from Cowdenbeath

A petrochemical site in Fife has been chosen by a climate change group for their 2020 camp in Scotland.

Climate Camp Scotland is to set up camp at Mossmorran where Shell has its Fife NGL Plant and ExxonMobil has its Fife Ethylene Plant.

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

It will take place for five days over a long weekend in June or July.

More than 80 people chose the site at a meeting in Glasgow on Sunday.

Their website states their aim is 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".

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.

James Glen, Mossmorran Action Group chairman, told BBC Scotland: "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.

"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 £140m investment by Exxon. Shell is planning a further 50 years of operation."