Scottish Government's Green Industrial Strategy slammed as 'detail-light' and lacking ambition
The Scottish Government’s new Green Industrial Strategy has been blasted as “detail-light” and unambitious.
The blueprint, published today, will place Scotland “at the forefront of the net zero economy” and drive growth, investment and jobs, SNP ministers claimed.
It detailed plans to boost five priority areas including offshore and onshore wind, Scotland’s burgeoning hydrogen sector and carbon capture projects.
But rival parties and trade unions warned the strategy came “nowhere near” to setting out the “bold and transformative action” needed for the transition to a clean power economy.
Scottish Labour Net Zero spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said: “If this Green Industrial Strategy is going to be worth the paper it is written on, the SNP needs to show it is serious about delivery.
READ MORE: GB Energy HQ to be based in Aberdeen, Keir Starmer set to announce
READ MORE: Taskforce set up to spark green heat boom in Scotland 'has failed to grasp the nettle'
“John Swinney said his government would start focusing on what it can do rather than what it can say, but this is another detail-light strategy consisting mostly of warm words and the promise of action that should have been taken years ago.
“Scotland has the potential to be a world-leader in renewables but for too long the SNP has squandered these opportunities, allowing key jobs and industries to go abroad.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said: “This strategy sets a worrying direction for Scotland and could actively damage our chances of reaching net zero.
“The scale of the crisis we face demands bold and transformative action, but this strategy comes nowhere near to offering that.
“They are making the wrong choices. The focus on carbon capture technologies is a huge misstep.”
Willie Rennie of the Lib Dems added: "The strategy says that maximising Scotland’s wind economy should be our top priority but even as one of Europe’s largest windfarms is built off the Fife coast, not a single blade is being manufactured here because the Scottish Government handed £50million to a firm which immediately folded and failed to develop alternatives.
“Coupled with the scandal of selling off Scotland’s seabed at a fraction of its true worth and then spending the money plugging SNP budget holes rather than investing in our green economy, the SNP strategy to date has been depressingly incompetent and short-termist."
STUC general secretary Roz Foyer hit out: “This is yet another example of government strategy that talks up potential without matching it with the necessary policy.
“After two decades, the Scottish Government should know that ambition without concrete action to build green industries and create jobs across our communities is worthless.
“The strategy says that an active state is necessary for success yet sets out a role for public bodies and local authorities limited to handcrafting Scotland’s natural resources for private investors and multinational companies…
“This approach to industrial strategy is outdated and has been abandoned by the USA and across the EU.”
And Rosie Hampton of Friends of the Earth Scotland said: “The green industrial strategy is late and lightweight. It’s lacking the ideas, policy, concrete timelines, or the investment needed.
"Whilst it recognises the enormous opportunity of the energy transition it is still resolutely backing climate losers in carbon capture and hydrogen from fossil fuels. "
Launching the strategy on a visit to Flowcopter in Midlothian, which builds drones for the wind sector, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and Acting Net Zero Secretary Gillian Martin hailed the “focused” plan.
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 Martin told journalists there was a “massive opportunity” to decarbonise and develop the Grangemouth industrial cluster after the Petroineos oil refinery there closes next year.
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.