Scottish Cities Alliance

The Scottish Cities Alliance is bringing £10bn of opportunities to accelerate and unlock sustainable investment

React News | 15.05.2023 | Ian Yuill

Local authorities in the UK are currently faced with two key tasks: uplifting our economy from the lasting impact of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, and addressing the urgent need for cities and places to progress the climate agenda, with a major focus on net zero and the energy that powers our country.

While these may seem like disparate topics, as local authorities we recognise that being at the forefront of the clean and just energy transition means being home to some of the UK’s most compelling investment opportunities. It is these opportunities that Aberdeen, alongside fellow Scottish cities, will bring to UKREiiF this week.

Scotland: investing in the net zero future

As the first government in the world to declare a climate emergency, Scotland has been leading on net zero with an ambitious target date of 2045 – five years ahead of the UK. Moreover, Scotland has been pioneering renewable energy generation and in 2020, Scotland generated enough renewable electricity to power all the households in Scotland for the equivalent of three and a half years.

However, national governments are not the only players in the game: the proactive approach of local authorities plays a key role in building up major investment opportunities across the country. Scottish Cities Alliance, a unique collaboration of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, Stirling and Dunfermline and the Scottish Government, helps to stack up the business case by collaboratively identifying and sharing our country’s untapped potential.

Net zero cannot be achieved and scaled up on its own: it is only possible via collaboration with other cities, businesses and the government. This is why we are headed to UKREiiF as Scottish Cities Alliance, bringing over £10bn worth of world-class opportunities to accelerate and unlock sustainable and transformational investment.

Aberdeen’s historic oil and gas industry, with its robust knowledge and skills base, has paved the way for the transition to clean energy

These opportunities are unique to each city and speak to our strength as a collective. For example, Aberdeen is developing the pioneering Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub to grow a hydrogen economy in the city region. Inverness & Cromarty Firth Green Freeport aims to create 25,000 jobs and £4.8bn worth of investment, and in Glasgow, a university-led Climate Neutral Innovation District project is underway.

Councils throughout Scotland are looking at different solutions to achieve net zero. This includes Perth and Kinross’ successful Innovate UK Net Zero Living Programme bid, Dunfermline’s £5.5m super substation that will power major green projects, and Stirling’s target to be carbon neutral in its own operations by 2035. Landmark developments such as the largest Scottish net zero housing project in Edinburgh and Port of Dundee’s decommissioning and offshore wind capacity are also making the mark.

Clean and just transition

While the traditional oil and gas industry is being increasingly recognised for its negative impact, it also presents a unique opportunity for a clean and just transition into a green economy. The latest insight from PwC’s green jobs barometer proves that Scotland is adding more new green jobs than any other part of the UK, while experiencing minimal net job losses due to transferable skills.

In Aberdeen, a global energy hub and the UK’s gateway to the North Sea, the stakes for such a transition are high and have implications beyond the city’s geographic limits. In recognition of this responsibility, and with a need to work at pace and scale with relevant partners and the community, Aberdeen declared a climate and nature emergency in March.

Aberdeen’s historic oil and gas industry, with its robust knowledge and skills base, has paved the way for the transition to clean energy. This existing infrastructure and bold ambitions have attracted top science and engineering talent from around the world.

Additionally, the access to abundant natural resources, such as wind and tidal energy, has seen Aberdeen cultivate major world-leading projects, such as Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating wind farm, and NorthConnect, a £1.5bn project providing a renewable electricity link with Norway.

Aberdeen is also making groundbreaking advances in climate and carbon engineering with emerging technologies like carbon capture and storage, and our designated 40-hectare Energy Transition Zone.

Moreover, we aim to become the UK’s first net zero port by 2040, with the Port of Aberdeen investing £55m to promote low emission, low carbon industry. At the heart of these advances lies Aberdeen’s ambitious net zero vision to become a climate-positive city.

With major investments already pouring into Scotland’s clean energy and innovation sector, we will be present at UKREiiF as Aberdeen, and as the Scottish Cities Alliance, with a joint ambition for the net zero transition. And we will continue leading the way towards a cleaner and more just future by working with the public as well as the private sector.