Scotland’s long hoped for just transition to a sustainable economy won’t happen without a transformation in both the quantity and quality of investment. There’s no doubt of the potential for high quality jobs and community renewal flowing from climate action.

According to CBI Economics, Scotland already has the largest share of jobs coming from the net zero economy in the UK, with employment growing about a fifth between 2022 and 2024, supporting over 100,000 FTE jobs (some 3.8% of the total).

This Wednesday, leaders and practitioners from across the public and private sectors, trade unions and civil society, will gather in Edinburgh for the first national summit on just transition. Convened by the Just Transition Commission, we hope to establish common ground on how a clean and nature positive economy can be built fairly, based on real world experience.

Investment is the crucial piece in the puzzle. Estimates suggest around £40 billion a year needs to be invested in Scotland’s green economy across agriculture and nature, energy and industry, buildings and transport. With the right policy frameworks, public finance leadership and private capital innovation, further job expansion can be delivered with strong working conditions and benefits distributed broadly through society. Here, Scotland has some distinctive just transition strengths, including the growth in shared and community ownership of renewables.

Ahead of the summit, the Commission has pulled together examples of how just transition can be delivered in practice. One........

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