Campaigners are also urging politicians not to hand fossil fuel giants a tax break at a time when industry profits are soaring while households continue to face the combined pressures of high living costs and worsening climate impacts.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly called for the UK Government's Energy Profits Levy to be scrapped, citing concerns about jobs and investment.
Oxfam Scotland is instead calling for it to be replaced with a permanent excess profits tax, with the money used to put heat pumps in homes, make public transport more affordable, help bring down bills, protect communities in Scotland and internationally from climate impacts and support secure long-term jobs.
Katherine May, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: "Every new global crisis seems to bring another payday for fossil fuel giants. While they cash in, families face higher energy bills, the mounting cost of floods and extreme weather and rising insurance premiums.
"At a time when the climate crisis is making everyday life more expensive, handing these profiteering polluters a tax cut while opening the door to more drilling would be utterly perverse.
“Scottish Ministers are clear they want the levy to be scrapped. What they're not saying is why the public should pay the price of climate destruction while fossil fuel giants continue to rake in billions. North Sea workers deserve better than to be used as a shield for shareholder profits. The real question isn't whether we can support jobs or tax eye-watering windfall profits; it's why we're being told we can't do both. A permanent excess profits tax could do exactly that."
/ENDS
For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Media and Communications Adviser, Oxfam Scotland: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450
