The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) has today published its plan for a Green Recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
The SCDI is calling for the Scottish and UK governments to deliver an ambitious “green stimulus” to kick-start the economy, create new jobs and fuel clean growth.
The plan has been developed by SCDI’s Clean Growth Leadership Group, which brings together experts from business, industry, academia, local government and the public sector in a shared mission to tackle climate change with practical ideas and action.
Building Scotland’s Green Recovery contains 12 big ideas which can be delivered in the coming weeks and months.
SCDI CEO Sara Thiam said: “Government, employers, workers, citizens and communities need to work together to tackle the climate emergency with the same urgency as we have the public health emergency.”
The SCDI said the green stimulus should include new or expanded national programmes of investment in: domestic buildings retrofit and energy efficiency; domestic buildings heat pumps; low- and zero-carbon transport infrastructure (e.g. active travel routes, EV charging points, hydrogen refuelling points, railway electrification); nature-based solutions (e.g. tree planting, peatland restoration, flood management); and digital connectivity.
They said such investment needs to happen at pace and at scale to address the worst-hit sectors of the Scottish economy and jobs at risk in tourism & hospitality, retail, construction and energy. Investment should be targeted at accelerating the decarbonisation of such sectors and supporting laid-off workers with reskilling, upskilling and transitioning into new green jobs.
Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower said: “SCDI’s plan further strengthens the case for accelerating investment in a cleaner, greener society to deliver positive outcomes for both the economy and the environment. Positive outcomes that will benefit all of us thanks to cleaner power, cleaner home heating and cleaner transport that will deliver much-needed jobs and investment while cleaning up the environment and decarbonising the economy. The time really is now for government, business and all of us to step up and make this happen.”
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