First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon set out the country’s Programme for 2020-21 this week, including the announcement of £100 million for a Green Jobs Fund.
This will be paid out over the next five years, and help support new and increased opportunities for green job creation across Scotland.
The funding will build on the country’s Green New Deal, which was first announced in the 2019 Programme and included a £3 billion Green Investment Portfolio amongst a slew of environmental policies.
In this year’s programme, Sturgeon also set out the first tranche of a £2 billion Low Carbon Fund, which will include £1.6 billion of investment over the next Parliament in heat and energy efficiency investment for home and buildings. Industrial decarbonisation will also receive a further £60 million.
Sturgeon said that while the starting point for many of the government’s commitments including reaching net zero may now be different due to COVID-19, the urgency has only grown greater.
She continued to emphasise the importance of the recovery process being green, continuing: “Central to that recovery is a new national mission to help create new jobs, good jobs and green jobs.”
Claire Mack, chief executive of Scottish Renewables welcomed the programme, saying: “The First Minister’s declaration of a £100 million Green Jobs Fund and a £25 million National Transition Training Fund are significant steps forward not just for our industry – which will require a large number of skilled employees as we work towards our net-zero target – but also for all those people whose careers are not compatible with that target.”
