Comment: drive towards net zero will create jobs. The Scottish Government’s announcement in June of a £62 million support package to help deliver a net zero future was warmly welcomed across the energy sector.

Scotsman 25th June 2020 read more »

Adding more renewable energy capacity will bring thousands of jobs and add hundreds of millions of pounds to the Scottish economy, according to an industry study published today. Research by Scottish Renewables, the trade body, suggested every new gigawatt of power installed creates 1,500 roles directly and through supply chains as well as bringing £133 million of gross value added (GVA), a measure of economic output. An expert group convened by the Scottish government published its report into how Scotland should rebuild its economy after Covid-19 on Monday. Among the recommendations were more green investment, improvements in the planning framework and a greater utilisation of the country’s natural resources. Scottish Renewables suggests the creation of a training fund to support oil and gas professionals and other tradespeople to transition to providing services to the green energy sector.

Times 24th June 2020 read more »

When the Higgins Report on how Scotland might secure a road to economic recovery out of this dreadful pandemic appeared on Monday, its four-page foreword was signed off simply with its principal author’s first name. Benny. It was almost as if the man himself was inviting us all to a cheery fireside chat about his dream of how to rebuild a robust and resilient post-virus economy. There was, however, nothing cosy in the prescriptions that followed. His style of recovery comes with some hefty price tags attached. Benny Higgins wants Scotland’s devolved government to be able to borrow £6 billion to invest in that recovery. That’s three times what an earlier Higgins-crafted initiative, the Scottish National Investment Bank, will have available to lend over a ten-year period when it opens its doors later in the year.

Times 24th June 2020 read more »

Nicola Sturgeon’s key economic adviser has said the North Sea sector must move into carbon capture technology to overcome the low oil price and recover from Covid-19 economic damage. Benny Higgins said the Scottish Government must have discussions with north-east businesses about transitioning from oil and gas as he launched his economic blueprint for combating the coronavirus.

Energy Voice 23rd June 2020 read more »

Protesters assembled outside St Andrew’s House today demanding a coronavirus recovery which is fair and green. The socially-distanced demonstration coincided with the publication of the report from the Scottish Government’s Advisory Group on Economic Recovery. Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Director Dr Richard Dixon said: “Today marks a key moment in starting to rebuild from the coronavirus pandemic. As the report from the Economic Advisory Group is published, it is crucial that the Scottish Government listens to the voices of key workers, and the huge number of civil society groups, who are calling for people and planet to be placed at the heart of the recovery process. “The Scottish Government must reject a simple return to business as usual or even worse, further austerity, which would create more poverty and pollution in the pursuit of profit. Instead, we need to see public investment in creating quality, sustainable jobs, introducing a more just tax system that redistributes wealth fairly, and strengthen and expand our vital public services. Only this kind of wide-ranging transformative recovery plan will deliver the kind of fairer, greener, future that we so desperately need.”

Edinburgh Reporter 22nd June 2020 read more »

A generation of young people in Scotland will be scarred by unemployment unless £6 billion is injected into the country’s crippled economy, a group advising Nicola Sturgeon has warned. Additional borrowing flexibility in the fiscal framework between Holyrood and Westminster is required to help fund recovery efforts while the Scottish government has been told that it will have to take stakes in private sector companies. The advisory committee, formed by the Scottish government in April, published 25 recommendations for revitalising the economy with yesterday. Benny Higgins, the former Tesco Bank chief executive who led the group, pointed out that Germany has announced support equivalent to 4 per cent of its GDP. He suggested an equivalent response in Scotland would be about £6 billion but acknowledged that Holyrood’s existing borrowing powers are limited to just £450 million.

Times 23rd June 2020 read more »

Scotsman 22nd June 2020 read more »

Herald 22nd June 2020 read more »

The Scottish Government’s Advisory Group on Economic Recovery published their report this morning suggesting how Scotland should recover from coronavirus and the restrictions that accompanied it. Earlier today, key workers held a small, socially-distanced protest outside St Andrews House to call for an economic recovery plan that creates a fairer, greener Scotland. Commenting on the report, Caroline Rance, Friends of the Earth Scotland Climate and Energy Campaigner, said: “The First Minister has spoken of the need for a green recovery which delivers a wellbeing economy but today’s report fails to chart the path to a greener, fairer Scotland for everyone. “Today’s advice offers little in the way of new thinking or concrete measures that will challenge the inequalities, poverty and climate pollution in Scotland. A return to the way things were before coronavirus is both unrealistic and unwanted.”

FoE Scotland 22nd June 2020 read more »

THE UK Government should hand more powers to Edinburgh to help tackle the fallout from coronavirus, the group established to advise on Scotland’s post-pandemic economic recovery has said. Ministers are due to review the Fiscal Framework next year, but in a report published yesterday, the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery has called for this timetable to be “accelerated” to allow the Scottish Government to borrow more.

The National 23rd June 2020 read more »