A former SNP minister has warned that “urgency is lacking” from efforts to finance Scotland’s net zero strategy from the private sector.

Ivan McKee, the SNP’s former business minister, has warned that “injecting that pace” into attempting to lever in funding is “something investors and policy-makers need to address”.

Mr McKee, who backed Kate Forbes in the SNP leadership contest and subsequently left the government, has appealed to his former colleagues to bring forward plans to fund the journey to net zero with more urgency.

Last year, The Herald revealed that then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon was lobbying the City of London for private investment.

Read more: Nicola Sturgeon lobbying London firms over 'willingness' to fund net zero policies

The pace at which private investment needs to materialise will need to be ramped up soon, with Scotland’s legal target to cut 1990 levels of carbon by 75 per cent in just seven years labelled “moving out of view” by the Scottish Government’s statutory advisers, the Climate Change Committee.

Humza Yousaf has also pointed to the private sector for the bulk of the billions of pounds needed to clean up the Scottish economy.

Writing in The Herald, Mr McKee claimed that in order for Scotland to meet its 2045 net zero target, “there is a mountain to climb”.

Read more: Ivan McKee: Increasing the pace of investment is key to Net Zero challenge

He said: “The investment required to deliver this is far beyond the reach of the public purse.

“Decarbonisation of heat in buildings for example carries an estimated price tag of more than £30billion. The Scottish Government funds allocated to this work is £1.8 billion.”

But Mr McKee acknowledged that there is “a vast amount of investment capital available for the right opportunities”.

📝 Sign up for Unspun – Scotland's top politics newsletter. Enjoy exclusive opinion and analysis from some of Scotland's best political writers and commentators sent directly to your inbox every weekday evening. Click here to sign up 👈

He added that “understanding how best to leverage those limited public sector funds to maximise total investment, but to do so in a way that protects public assets and priorities, is a key part of the challenge”.

Mr McKee said that “technology is critical to delivering net zero”.

He said: “Scotland has a huge amount to offer – net zero infrastructure opportunities, innovative businesses needing growth capital to scale and provide the technology to tackle challenges on a global scale, and an enviable place at the cutting edge of renewable energy generation.

“When it comes to mobilising investment to tackle the climate emergency that urgency is lacking. Injecting that pace is something investors and policymakers need to address.”

The former minister claimed that Scotland has “many of the necessary building blocks already in place” in order to “take advantage of the opportunities that net zero brings”.

Read more: SNP ministers urged to commit to fully clean energy system

Mr McKee stressed that the publicly-funding Scottish National Investment Bank “has a key role to play”, including “as a route for international investors to partner and channel additional funds though its activities”.

He said: “Scotland has all the necessary ingredients - natural resources, skills, technology and the ability to leverage in the necessary investment to realise that potential.

“The investment eco-system is alive with a plethora of initiatives and some great ideas. Now is the time to pull all that together, give it some strategic coherence and direction, and to do so at pace to make sure we don’t get left behind.”