Green FDI and Scotland

Scotland has a tremendous reputation for attracting Foreign Direct Investment from Continental Europe, North America and Asia. There is an opportunity to continue this success by focusing on promoting Scotland for "Green FDI" to create jobs and wealth and to help tackle the climate emergency.

Traditional FDI only needs a market, a workforce and good infrastructure and Scotland has been great at providing that. Green FDI on the other hand has very specific needs. The good news is that Scotland can provide these too. The basic requirements are availability of clean energy, project development and engineering capability and a Government committed to reducing carbon emissions.

As with traditional FDI, however, there is strong international competition to attract companies which have developed clean energy technologies. For Scotland there are two strategies which can help to win this new form of cross-border investment. The first is to concentrate on identifying and scoping out potential demonstrator and pilot projects which advance new technologies and test new applications. The second is to promote these investment opportunities to European investors and partners.

Germany has a combination of technology players and available capital which make it attractive as a target market for attracting Green FDI to Scotland. This year our country will have increased visibility as a result of the COP26 event in Glasgow in November. It is the perfect opportunity to make our pitch for Green FDI and play our part with European partners in the fight against climate change.