Scotland has to be “as competitive as possible” if it is going to achieve net zero aims, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister said.
Kate Forbes said competitiveness was necessary for attracting private capital as this will make up the “most part” of “green industries of the future”.
Investors like the Japanese cables giant Sumitomo, who is building a £350 million factory in Nigg, and US-private equity-backed investor Haventus, which bought the port at Ardersier, were seeking “skilled labour” and “infrastructure”.
She added the economy needs to grow in order to meet her government’s objectives of eradicating child poverty as well as achieving net zero energy targets.
Firing up the net zero economy
Speaking to Energy Voice at the Tourism and Renewables Conference, Forbes, who is also MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, highlighted how her government can help get the economy “fired up”.
She pointed to a recent £5 million package of tech support measures for growing indigenous businesses. She also highlighted the need to work with universities and colleges to deliver employable skills.
WATCH: Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes
She said: “We know that when it comes to, for example, the net zero economy, the green industries of the future, that will need to be private investment for the most part.
“These businesses can go anywhere in the world
“We need to make Scotland as competitive as possible in order to attract them.
“They are looking for skilled labour, they are looking for infrastructure.”
When asked what the UK Prime Minister what can do to support economic growth in Scotland once the outcome of the general election is confirmed, she said immigration was “an example of a very significant economic lever that we need”.
Renewables revolution
Speaking to the audience at the conference in Inverness, she said the region was “on the cusp, if not in the throes, of a renewables revolution”.
She said economic activity of the Highlands has “closed the gap” with the national average in recent years and welcomed the “enormous” investment announcements by Sumitomo and Haventus.
However, she said recent census figures which show that the population across rural coastal areas is continuing to decline as a “wake up call”.
© Sandy McCook / DC Thomson“We all know the oil and gas industry has been critical over the last 40 years to sustaining the Highland economy.
“We all know about the impact it has had on creating its communities that may not have existed.
“We also know if we go back even further the impact that hydro had when it came to communities.
“The visible signs of housing that was built during the ’50s and ’60s and which still occupied tells a story about legacy.
“That triangle of responsibility is also applied to this new revolution when it comes to renewables – people, environment and prosperity.
“This is not an intangible industry that is happening on the periphery pf people’s minds. It has a direct impact clearly on job opportunities and job creation and what the legacy might be in the years to come.”
Energy industry legacy
She added that the “future of the Highlands relies on us getting it right”.
“In fifty years’ time, a local representative like myself is still talking about income inequality, about the pressure on housing and the pressure on infrastructure – that’s what I want to change.
“The stakes are high but that means the prize is incredible if we get it right.”
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