The Scottish government has now set out its strategy for getting us to net zero in the next 22 years.
Charting a course through all that is tricky for us as individuals: whether to buy a hybrid or electric car, how to reduce heating bills, and for many, an attempt to reduce our impact on climate change, perhaps with less flying, driving or eating meat.
It is now arguing that the industry's inevitable decline, due to half a century of extracting more than 45 billion barrels of hydrocarbons, ought to be accelerated. Unlike Saudi Arabia, the huge investment in offshore wind is being financed mainly by foreign investors, who will take the profits when they are made. Scottish Labour would like to see some stake for the state, to share the spoils.Also, with the energy strategy, there is publication of a much more modest set of projected employment figures for the 'just transition' out of oil and gas and into renewables.
Some companies are doing so, because they see the pressure to diversify, and they're creating opportunities for staff to be part of that process without changing employers. But there are also indications of a lack of confidence that oil and gas jobs are that easily transformed. The strategy, which is out to consultation, rules out new nuclear "with current technologies", while talking up solar power, but without a suggested target. There's more light in Scotland than you might think during the darkness of January, and commercial solar farms are being developed as far north as Moray.
Such challenges are acknowledged by the Scottish government, but without much of the tricky detail on how to use its powers and funds. Expect to hear more when Green co-leader Patrick Harvie sets out his ministerial plans for home insulation later this year.While Mr Matheson has advice for Whitehall, there are some stern warnings being directed towards ministers by their own advisers. The Just Transition Commission was set up by ministers to advise them and to hold them accountable.
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