Net Zero - Investor Panel minutes: June 2023

Attendees and apologies

Panel

• Angus Macpherson
• Baroness Margaret Ford
• Gavin Templeton
• Andrew Telfer
• Judith Cruikshank
• Shane Corstorphine

• Alexandra Basirov

Advisors

• Willie Watt, Scottish National Investment Bank

Officials

• Richard Rollison, Scottish Government
• James McLellan, Scottish Government
• Martin McCloskey, Scottish Government ​​​​​​​

Observers

• Ian Cochran, University of Edinburgh
• Kal Sangha, Noble & Co  

Apologies

• Peter Reekie, Scottish Futures Trust
• John Watson, Global Infrastructure Partners

Items and actions

Items and actions

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Angus opened the meeting by welcoming attendees. Angus stated the meeting’s primary focus was to discuss and consider possible recommendations around two of the three workstreams namely, market intelligence and the policy environment for investment.

An update will also be provided around progress of the third workstream which is a deep dive into opportunities in Scotwind, Hydrogen and Heat in Buildings.

Delivery

Richard noted the significant progress the Panel is making and that recommendations from all three workstreams are expected later this Summer. This work is a priority for the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy and officials and to reflect this the Scottish Government is now considering the organisational structure needed to drive forward the recommendations of the Panel.

Working Group updates 

Working Group 1 and 2 – market intelligence  and investor environment

The Panel discussed the Scottish Government’s commitment to transitioning to net zero, which will require a very significant increase in financing for critical infrastructure. As other countries position themselves to address the climate emergency, it is clear that Scotland will need to gain competitive advantage to attract the global capital required.

The Panel agreed that to attract additional capital a different approach will be required. External finance is essential and providers of this finance will require an adequate risk and reward ratio.

As part of this exercise the Panel has reviewed the practices of small countries and states which are perceived by investors as attractive to invest in.

Discussions have also taken place with a number of institutions, companies, advisers and individuals who are active in the investment infrastructure markets.

The Panel has also had conversations with Scottish Government officials, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Futures Trust and the Scottish National Investment Bank.

The Panel’s range of recommendations will be based on these and other observations.

Angus led a discussion around possible recommendations on how the Government and its agencies engage with investors and how Scotland is perceived as an investment environment.

Working Group 3 – sector deep dive

Gavin noted that Workstream 3, the sectoral deep dives in ScotWind, hydrogen & heat will be moving at pace over the coming weeks with a number of interviews taking place with relevant stakeholders. Gavin also emphasised the need to build on the work of the Green Finance Taskforce which will help inform the work around Heat in Buildings.

Reporting

The Panel noted that no formal report will be published but recommendations and some of the evidence base behind these will be published in late Summer/October when Workstream 3 has concluded and recommendations agreed.

Next steps

The Panel agreed to continue progress work on the recommendations for Workstreams 1 and 2 and push forward the work on Workstream 3. The Panel will meet again around September to finalise recommendations.