Group launches bid to lure green bank to Scotland

A CAMPAIGN to bring the Green Investment Bank (GIB) to Scotland will launch this week at the House of Commons, spearheaded by Edinburgh West MP Mike Crockart.

A number of figures from Scotland's private sector, including Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ron Hewitt, will travel to London on Wednesday to present the business case for setting up the bank in Edinburgh to Michael Moore, Secretary of State for Scotland.

Momentum has been building since Chancellor George Osborne revealed in his Budget last week that government funding for the organisation will be increased to 3 billion from 1bn.

It is believed former Chancellor and Edinburgh MP Alistair Darling will also endorse the case for locating the GIB in Edinburgh at the meeting.

Crockart and other key figures behind the campaign believe it will be a straight fight between the Scottish and English capitals for the bank's location.

But they will argue that Edinburgh has an established renewable energy industry, financial expertise and strong academic research into green power, which gives it an edge over London.

Crockart told Scotland on Sunday: "The overriding issue is financial expertise. We have a lot of it in Edinburgh and London also has it in spades.

"It is only really those two locations that have the necessary breadth of experience in crucial financial areas for the GIB, including project finance.

"But we feel Scotland has a differentiating factor in that it already has massive experience in renewables, from research and development in the green sector, to carbon capture and wind and wave power."

Another MP in the Scottish campaign for the GIB, which is set to begin operations in 2012/13, is Mark Lazarowicz, member for Edinburgh North and Leith.

He and Nathan Goode, a partner at Grant Thornton, are expected to argue that Scotland has two major power companies in ScottishPower-owner Iberdrola and Scottish and Southern Energy that are already investing billions of pounds in renewables technology.

Crockart said three of Edinburgh's universities - Napier, Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh - had specialist departments looking at renewable energy.

"We have all the expertise in a compact area to do the kicking of the tyres of projects that the GIB will need," he added.

Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, the country's green energy trade association, is backing the campaign.

"Half of all renewable energy developed in the UK is situated in Scotland. Nowhere else in the UK marries up the financial services expertise and the critical mass of a renewables energy industry," he said.