New Scottish development bank to clean up North Sea oil
A new development bank owned by the Scottish government will seek to drive the North Sea’s transition to a lower-carbon future as part of a mission-based investment strategy.
The head of the Scottish National Investment Bank said the rest of the UK could benefit from investments focused on furthering social and economic goals as it aimed to clean up North Sea oil.
Willie Watt, the former chief executive of asset manager Martin Currie, revealed the first investments by the bank were expected by the end of next March, with options already being considered. The SNIB will launch by the end of the year and will focus on three missions: the transition to net zero carbon, inequality and innovation.
“One of the things that we’re very interested in is the transition from being an oil services company, for example, to being a company that services the low-carbon industry,” Mr Watt told The Daily Telegraph.
“I doubt whether we would want to invest in an oil and gas business that had no interest in making that transition, but we certainly are interested in companies that do want to make that transition.”
Holyrood will provide £2bn of capital over a 10-year period to invest in firms to improve the country’s economic prospects.
