A focused strategy has been launched to place Scotland at the forefront of the net zero economy, with targeted actions to secure growth and investment.
Delivered as part of the Programme for Government, the Green Industrial Strategy sets out five priority areas where efforts and resources will be concentrated.
These are:
maximising Scotland’s wind economy
growing the hydrogen sector
developing the carbon capture, utilisation and storage sector
supporting green economy professional and financial services
attracting clean energy intensive industries such as datacentres
A range of specific actions include hosting a Global Offshore Wind Investment Forum next Spring, working with the sector to develop hubs of hydrogen production and demand and working with public and private partners to drive investment in key projects.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy Gillian Martin unveiled the Strategy during a visit to Flowcopter, a company developing drones which can be used in the offshore wind sector.
Ms Forbes said: “The global transition to net zero provides opportunities across every part of our economy through a strengthened partnership between the public and private sectors.
“This Green Industrial Strategy spells out where we believe the greatest opportunities lie, and where we will focus our attention and resources.
“It provides certainty for businesses – both at home and abroad – by demonstrating where and how we will work to reduce barriers to investment and, where appropriate, share risk and reward.”
Ms Martin said: “Scotland’s energy sector will play a crucial role in growing the economy and delivering on our net zero targets.
“We have already committed up to £500 million over five years to develop the offshore wind supply chain.
“This will build further on Scotland’s strengths to generate growth in well paid jobs and exports, to enable us to deliver on our Programme for Government priorities of high quality public services, eradicating child poverty and protecting the planet.”
Managing Director of Flowcopter Peter McCurry said: “The rapidly growing green energy sector represents a real opportunity for Flowcopter to not only scale-up our business, but create even more high-tech jobs as part of a Scottish supply chain.
“Flowcopter has successfully developed an uncrewed cargo drone for remote logistics. Through this, we came to recognise the huge potential to drastically reduce operations and maintenance costs for the offshore wind industry.”
Scotland is home to more than 1500 species of lichen, more than 85% of the total species found in the UK, and is recognized for its clean air quality and abundance of lichens.
Despite this prevalence, lichens are far less likely to be identified and surveyed by members of the public and citizen science initiatives than vascular plants.
This project seeks to increase awareness around lichen biology and ecology, uncovering the environmental importance of lichen species.
Join Lichen Biodiversity Scientist Dr Rebecca Yahr and researcher Toby Mills on a walk around Granton’s Eastern Breakwater to explore the abundant community of marine lichen species at the site.
The walk is accompanied by the creation of a new interactive digital guide. The interactive guide also forms part of the Art Walk’s UnderCurrent Exhibition at the Art Walk Porty Festival Hub (7/8 & 14/15 September).
Establishment of carbon budget approach to setting climate targets
Legislation to create a carbon budget approach to setting climate targets has been published.
The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill seeks to amend the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, in response to the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) advice that Scotland’s interim emissions reduction target for 2030 was beyond what could be achieved.
Annual emissions targets are vulnerable to year-to-year fluctuations in emissions such as a particularly cold winter or unexpected events such as a global pandemic.
Based on recommendations from the CCC, the Bill therefore seeks to set a limit on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted over a five-year period, to provide a more reliable framework for emissions reduction.
Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero Gillian Martin said: “Our commitment to ending Scotland’s contribution to global emissions by 2045 at the latest, as agreed by Parliament on a cross-party basis, is unwavering.
“We are now halfway to net zero and continue to be ahead of the UK as a whole in delivering long term emissions reductions.
“However, it is crucial that our target pathway to 2045 is set at a pace and scale that is feasible and reflects the latest independent advice.
“Carbon budgets are an established model for assessment of emissions reductions used by other nations including Japan, France, and Wales.
“We will continue leading on climate action that is fair, ambitious and capable of rising to the emergency before us, and reflects our commitment to the ambition of credible emissions reduction. We are maintaining our commitment to a just transition to net zero and progressing our international work on climate change.”
Researchers across the UK to use latest tech and major data bank to better predict where devastating floods and droughts will strike
innovators will also pioneer new ways of tackling the worst of extreme weather to halt damage and cut eye-watering cost to the economy
sensors in UK rivers and real time monitoring will gather priceless data that goes towards modelling the potential impact and likely flashpoints
Predicting where future flooding and droughts will strike next in the UK will be made easier under a new project for scientists using the latest tech and real-time data, Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has announced.
It will help key bodies, like local authorities and the Environment Agency, to stem the worst of extreme weather’s impact on communities, saving lives, homes, and businesses, and helping to cut the devastating cost of such events to the UK economy, estimated at £740 million a year.
The Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure, led by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and backed by £40 million, will be the first UK-wide network focused on understanding the impact of extreme weather conditions across the country, pinpointing where incidents are likely to occur and planning to limit their impact.
The complexity of Earth’s climate makes forecasting floods and droughts a major challenge, with climate change only further complicating the picture.
Researchers will use the latest technologies including sensors and real time computer monitoring, plus a huge bank of data including river profiles and near real-time monitoring of information including on atmospherics, ground saturation, water movement, abstraction and storage – taken together, this will form a clearer impression of where and when extreme weather will strike.
Floods wreak havoc on communities by destroying homes, public infrastructure, and livelihoods like farming which in turn costs consumers. Similarly, droughts have a major impact on the water supply and UK eco-system, harming wildlife and their natural habitats which rely on regular rainfall.
Researchers will be based at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s offices throughout Great Britain, with further input from researchers in the British Geological Survey, University of Bristol and Imperial College London.
Findings from the project will be shared with key bodies like the Environment Agency to steer the UK response to extreme weather.
It will also act as a hub for researchers to pursue new innovations with discoveries shared across the world and marking the UK as a leader in the field.
Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, said: “Flooding and droughts can devastate UK communities, from leaving people stranded, to destroying homes, gardens, roads and businesses, and even claiming lives.
“With climate change sadly making extreme weather events more common and adding an eye-watering cost to the economy, there is no time to waste in backing our researchers and innovators to ensure we are better prepared for floods and droughts striking.
“This project will help drive that progress, with dedicated teams using the most advanced tech to crunch data gathered from our rivers and paint a clear picture of its likely impact – using the power of science and tech to keep the public safe.”
The new measures build on £5.6 billion of government investment into flooding from 2021 and 2027, with over 100 and coastal risk management projects helping to better protect thousands of people and properties from flooding from the sea, rivers and reservoirs.
The Westminster government will also shortly launch a new Flood Resilience Taskforce to turbocharge the delivery of new flood defences, drainage systems and natural flood management schemes, which will ensure we’re prepared for the future and help grow our economy.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy said: “In the case of extreme flooding and drought, preparation and prediction are everything.
“Our new institute will bring together a team of world-leading researchers and the latest technology to ensure our communities, businesses and farms are protected from these devastating events.”
The funding also builds on wider UKRI projects tackling extreme weather in the UK and abroad, including support for businesses to ensure against its risks.
It includes a project sponsored by the NERC linking the frequency and intensity of storms over Northern Europe using mathematical models that enable more accurate pricing of storm-related risks. Meanwhile the Lisflood-FP computer model developed by the University of Bristol has helped over one million Zambian farmers to insure themselves against drought risk through daily rainfall estimates for the continent of Africa.
Another team at Bristol has pioneered the development of high-resolution flood prediction models, which has resulted in Fathom: a spin-out company with an annual turnover of more than £4 million. Its work includes protecting infrastructure valued at over $1 trillion, thanks to improved flood risk management in the UK and across the world.
Executive Chair of NERC, Professor Louise Heathwaite, said: “Earth’s changing climate means the number of extreme floods and droughts will increase in the UK, impacting homes, businesses and services.
!But predicting their location and measuring their intensity and impact needs the sort of scientific advances that this programme will bring to overcome the data and analytical constraints that are currently very challenging.
“The project will transform the way we understand the impact of these events by building a significant bank of data and improving our monitoring capability, and so helping to protect those affected.
“This is an example of how NERC is responding to climate challenges with research and innovation investments that will accelerate the green economy and deliver solutions to national priorities.”
85% said access to the countryside was ‘very important’ (53%) or ‘fairly important’ (32%)
Strong support for countryside access evident across every age group, gender, region and socioeconomic background
85% of Labour voters agree that access to the countryside is important
The vast majority of people in Great Britain believe it’s important to have access to the countryside close to where they live, according to new polling from countryside charity CPRE and YouGov.
85% of those asked responded that access to the countryside was either ‘very important’ (53%) or ‘fairly important’ (32%). Strong support for countryside access was evident across every age group, gender, region and socioeconomic background.
Strikingly, 85% of those who voted Labour in 2019 agreed that access to the countryside was important. The figure for Conservative voters was 91%.
The Westminster government has already begun making decisions that will shape our countryside for generations to come.
We are calling on them to listen to their supporters and make good on their promises to protect the countryside – including the Green Belt – and to take action in CPRE’s core priority areas: planning system reform; affordable housing; the transition to clean energy and the need for joined-up decision making on how we use our finite supply of land.
CPRE chief executive Roger Mortlock said: ‘The results prove the countryside is deeply important to people, whatever their political beliefs and backgrounds.
‘The countryside is working harder than ever to address the challenges our nation faces but we’ve got to start treating our land as the finite resource that it is.
“We need a strategic, cross-government approach to land use that will help the countryside provide food and energy security, nature restoration, climate change mitigation, health and wellbeing benefits, space for new homes – and space for beauty, too.’
Three day festival – 13-15 September – celebrates Scotland’s last wild, native oyster fishery
New Eco Zone will be a hub for ecological talks and activities
Oyster researchers from Heriot Watt University and the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh will take part
As the native oyster season opens (1st September), Scotland’s oyster festival has announced a new celebration of nature, right in the heart of the festival site.
Stranraer Oyster Festival, which takes place from 13-15 September, is introducing a new Eco Zone with a nature-based programme of talks and activities. The festival celebrates Scotland’s last wild, native oyster fishery taking place on the waterfront, a short distance from the sustainably managed native oyster beds in Loch Ryan.
The new Eco Zone programme will include a talk by Prof. Bill Sanderson of Heriot Watt University on the Benefits of Loch Ryan’s Oyster Beds, and a talk by Dr. Nicola Stock of Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute on Oyster Microbiomes in Loch Ryan.
Other activities will include wildlife and shoreline ranger led walks by the Solway Coast and Marine Project, touch tanks containing marine wildlife and activities for young people on a marine and ecology theme.
The Eco Zone continues Stranraer Oyster Festival’s growing emphasis on showcasing the importance of the Loch Ryan native oyster beds as one of Scotland’s ecological treasures, as well as an exceptional seafood product.
Allan Jenkins, Event Co-ordinator for Stranraer Development Trust, the community organisation that organises the festival explains: “Since Stranraer Oyster Festival launched in 2017 our understanding of the ecological importance of these oysters has grown.
“Last year we launched an oyster shell recycling scheme to give something back to the loch and the oyster bed. This year we wanted to make environmental activities and experiences a core part of the festival so that visitors to the event can understand just how extraordinary these oysters are.
“This year we are absolutely privileged to have such knowledgeable experts joining us for the festival.”
Professor Bill Sanderson of Heriot Watt University was commissioned by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Environment Team to carry out an oyster stock assessment of Loch Ryan last year, which estimated a population of 23 million native oysters.
He will share information about that assessment and his work on native oysters at a talk during the opening evening of the oyster festival.
He said: “Native oysters are marine biological super heroes. They improve the water by filtering it, they create spaces for other species improving biodiversity, they store carbon and, of course, they’re delicious.
“200 years ago we had oysters everywhere, including here on the Forth. Stranraer and Loch Ryan is an amazing glimpse into the past because oysters were abundant everywhere.
“Importantly, Loch Ryan’s oysters are also a window on the future, because people all over Europe are looking to restore oyster beds. Loch Ryan finds itself in the centre of the oyster restoration world, so I’m absolutely delighted to be taking part in this new initiative at the oyster festival.”
Later this year 10,000 native oysters from Loch Ryan will make their way to the Firth of Forth as part of Restoration Forth – a major marine restoration programme working with communities to restore seagrass habitats and European flat oyster populations in the Firth of Forth.
Stranraer Oyster Festival launched as a community-led regeneration project to ‘change the story of Stranraer’ from a story of economic decline to a story of destination opportunity. With six successful festivals delivered, the event has had a cumulative economic impact of more than £7m for the scenic former ferry port in south west Scotland.
The 2024 festival programme leans strongly into Stranraer’s connection with the water of Loch Ryan, with ecosystem and community regeneration strong themes. The Scottish Shucking Championship is a focal point of the festival, with chefs from across Scotland competing in the ‘Shuck Off’ to become Scottish Champion and win their place in the World Shucking Championships in Ireland in late September.
Culinary inspiration comes in the form of chef demonstrations that reunite two TV chef double acts – BBC’s Spice Kings Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala, and STV’s Hot Wok stars Julie Lin and Jimmy Lee.
They’ll be joined in the festival demo kitchen by Pam Brunton whose multiple award-winning restaurant Inver is the only restaurant in Scotland to receive a Michelin Green Star, which recognises restaurants that combine culinary excellence with outstanding eco-friendly commitments.
Allan Jenkins added: “People enjoying and eating the oysters at Stranraer Oyster Festival are directly supporting the sustainability of the oyster bed. It sounds counterintuitive, but only 5% of the oysters that are lifted by the Loch Ryan Oyster Fishery are ever sold.
“The rest are carefully relaid in dense beds to help encourage native oyster breeding. So, enjoying Loch Ryan native oysters – especially at Stranraer Oyster Festival – is directly helping to fund this important work.”
Stranraer Oyster Festival is supported by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Major Events Strategic Fund, EventScotland’s National Events Funding Programme and South of Scotland Enterprise. The work of Stranraer Development Trust is also supported by Kilgallioch Community Fund.
Stranraer Oyster Festival takes place from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th September 2024. Early Bird Weekend tickets cost £15, and Day Tickets cost from £6, with concessions available.
For more information details and to book tickets, head to:
We want to create wealth everywhere, but first we must fix the foundations of our country.
In the first few weeks of this Government, an audit found a £22 billion black hole in the public finances. It means we’ve had to take tough decisions, like means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment. Our Budget in October will be difficult.
But we have already taken action to improve the lives of working people in every corner of the country, from unlocking planning decisions to help build 1.5 million new homes to setting up Great British Energy, to create good jobs and provide clean energy to cut people’s bills in the long term.
Here are some of the things we are doing to fix the foundations of this country.
Setting up a new National Wealth Fund
Growth is the number one priority of this government. That’s why we set up the National Wealth Fund.
It is a publicly owned investment fund that will help attract investment into our country, stabilise our economy and create wealth for future generations.
It will help unlock private investment into the UK by directly investing in new and growing industries, and help create thousands of jobs in clean energy industries.
Accelerating housing planning
We’re overhauling our housing system to meet the needs of working people and put communities first.
Our plan will include introducing mandatory planning targets to aim to deliver on our ambition to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
The new targets will boost housebuilding in areas most in need, to help more people buy their own homes, and help drive growth – making everyone in the country better off.
Putting passengers first We’ll put our rail system back on track with new laws to deliver for passengers.
They will improve the railways by reforming rail franchising, establishing Great British Railways and bringing train operators into public ownership.
Protecting taxpayer money
We’ll introduce legislation that makes sure nobody can play fast and loose with public finances.
A new Bill will strengthen the role of the Office of Budget Responsibility, meaning significant fiscal announcements must be properly scrutinised and that taxpayers’ money is respected.
Protecting workers’ rights
We’ll improve workers’ rights with new legislation – a significant step towards delivering this Government’s plan to make work pay.
We will ban exploitative zero-hours contracts, end fire and rehire, and introduce basic employment rights from day one.
And we’re changing the way the Minimum Wage is set so it keeps in line with the cost of living, in a move to put more money in working people’s pockets.
Launching GB Energy
Producing clean energy and creating good jobs will be our focus for the rest of the year. Great British Energy, a publicly owned, clean-energy company, will own, manage and operate clean power projects, such as wind farms, across the country.
Great British Energy will be headquartered in Scotland and paid for by a windfall tax on oil and gas giants. It will invest clean power projects across the United Kingdom, such as wind farms, which are the cheapest forms of electricity generation to build and operate.
This will help make our country energy independent, tackle climate change and save families money. And investing in clean domestic power will create jobs and build supply chains in every corner of the UK.
The First Minister’s former school teacher sought to give a climate lesson to her famous ex-pupil today as the SNP conference got underway in Edinburgh.
The teacher was part of a group of activists from the Edinburgh Climate Coalition urging the SNP to stop rolling back on climate change action following the decision earlier this year to scrap its critical 2030 climate targets.
The teacher wore a black gown and cap whilst standing in front of a large blackboard with repeated lines written on reminding the First Minister “I must try harder to protect the climate. I must try harder to protect the climate. I must try harder to protect the climate…”
Environmentalists have been angered by the regressive approach taken under Swinney’s leadership including removing its opposition to drilling new oil and gas fields, announcing it will increase train fares and slashing millions of pounds from environmental restoration schemes.
Activists spoke to SNP conference delegates and politicians as they went inside the conference urging them to put pressure on decision makers to get back on track.
Caro Wilkinson, who was John Swinney’s German teacher at Forrester High School in Edinburgh commented, “When I taught John Swinney, he was both intelligent and caring. His kindness was clear when he organised a class whip round when I was pregnant to buy me a teddy bear for my new baby.
“He is clever enough to know how urgent the threat of climate change is and so I hope he cares enough for the planet to take the action that’s needed.
“If he does, he’ll speak out against the huge Rosebank oil field, reject the proposed Peterhead gas fired power station and do what he can to put the Scottish Government back on course to fight climate change.”
Luke Henderson, Edinburgh Climate Coalition spokesperson added: “People around the world are already suffering from the impacts of changed climate in fires, floods and landslides but the Scottish Government is going backwards and slowing down the action that will improve lives and cut climate pollution.
“Renewable energy is already far cheaper than new fossil fuels whilst solutions like making public transport more affordable and accessible will help more people get to where they need to be.”
