The Scottish Government's discussion paper on the transition to a low carbon economy draws together, for the first time, ways in which Scotland can take pole position in the drive to secure the economic benefits of greener business. The Government will publish a resulting Low Carbon Strategy in the autumn.
New jobs highlighted include an additional 26,000 jobs in renewables, 26,000 jobs in emerging low carbon technologies and a further 8,000 jobs in environmental management. These are on top of the 70,000 jobs that already exist in low carbon sectors. Low carbon goods and services will be worth an estimated £12 billion by 2015.
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Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney said: "Moving Scotland's industries to low carbon products and services is an economic and environmental imperative and is already happening - witness the billions of pounds being invested in green energy.
"Yet there is so much more potential across domestic and rapidly expanding global markets such as green energy, sustainable transport, energy efficiency, waste, recycling and pollution. All the estimates show that the jobs potential, demand for new skills, and supply chain benefits could be vast.
"This discussion paper is designed to gather views and experiences from across Scotland. Working with our enterprise agencies, we will discuss with industry sectors like finance, construction and skills sectors and will provide a clear focus to promote the transition to a low carbon economy in the autumn."
The discussion document highlights the far-reaching implications of the package of measures required to achieve Scotland's emission reduction targets and promotes discussion about the collective priorities for stimulating low carbon economic growth as an integral part of the Government Economic Strategy.
The Scottish Low Carbon Investment Project (SLIP) will host a green energy finance conference in Edinburgh in the autumn.
(GK)
