By Ian McConnell
Scotland is playing a leading role in developing new technology that can “help meet the challenge of global climate change” and finds itself on the cusp of a “revolution” in this arena, a new analysis claims.
The report, which is hailed as the nation’s “first analysis” of the “climate tech” sector, was commissioned by taxpayer-backed economic development agency Scottish Enterprise.
It examines Scotland’s positioning in terms of sectors including energy, transport, the built environment, and land use, highlighting a raft of projects in these areas by companies including ScottishPower and Wood Group.
It was carried out by ScotlandIS, the “membership and cluster management” organisation for the digital technologies industry in Scotland.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Brexit could have taken many forms. Cheshire Cat Boris Johnson chose this one
Looking ahead to the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which is being staged in Glasgow in November, the report states: “To conclude, Scotland is on the cusp of a climate tech revolution and, in the lead up to COP26, it is vital that we highlight Scotland’s climate tech capability to the global audience.”
Unveiling the report, ScotlandIS say: “The research demonstrates that Scotland has both strength and depth in emerging climate technology and highlights an exciting array of initiatives by Scottish organisations in the climate tech space.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Brexit — Is UK Government washing its hands of its mess?
“The report highlights the global opportunities for Scotland’s tech community to capitalise on climate technology needs across a range of sectors, including energy, the built environment, land use and transport.”
Karen Meechan, interim chief executive of ScotlandIS, said: “The race to net zero and addressing climate change are global priorities. Although a sector in its infancy, climate tech is already making a big impact. Scotland is superbly well positioned to become a climate tech centre of global excellence, building on the nation’s expertise in renewable energy, low-carbon transport and cutting emissions in both the rural and urban environment.
“Our climate tech report is the first document in Scotland setting out the size, scale and nature of the climate tech sector. The UK and Scotland are both well placed to support the digital community create a flourishing climate tech ecosystem.”
Scottish Enterprise interim chief executive Linda Hanna said: “Innovative technology and digital solutions have a core role to help get us to net zero. Climate tech is a rapidly emerging industry with enormous potential across a range of sectors such as energy, sustainable transport, the built environment, agriculture and land use.
“This report captures the growth and investment potential of climate tech, highlighting some of the Scottish companies already successfully working in this space.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel