Creating community wealth through the energy revolution

Scotland is blessed with a wealth of natural assets, which can deliver long term transformational and regenerative benefits for people and communities. Previous opportunities to maximise community wealth from oil and gas development, as well as major onshore wind developments, were missed. If we are serious about building a Wellbeing Economy through a just transition, we cannot afford to do the same with the enormous investment in off-shore wind, transmission upgrades and energy storage currently happening around Scotland.

The Scottish Community Coalition on Energy is proposing the creation of a National Community Wealth Fund for Scotland, to ensure the financial rewards from these developments are equitably shared, stay with the people of Scotland and are used to build community wealth from the bottom up.

The Scottish Community Wealth Fund would act both as a sovereign wealth fund and as a provider of long-term, revenue-generating investment funds for local communities. The approach is both hyper local – continuing to recognise the positive impact that energy developments have on certain communities, and it would be national – recognising the contribution that all communities across Scotland are making to Scotland’s journey to Net Zero.

Join the next meeting of the CPG on Wellbeing Economy to find out more about how such a Scottish Community Wealth Fund can work and the challenges and opportunities it can bring. We will have a range of expert speakers joining us for the discussion: 

• Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager, Community Land Scotland 
• Laurie Macfarlane, Co-director, Future Economy Scotland 
• Gary Hughes, Economic Development Manager, SSEN Transmission
• Rachel Searle, Head of Communities and Impact, Foundation Scotland

The meeting will be held in the The Clerk Maxwell Room T1.60-CR4 with an option to attend online via MS Teams. 

This meeting will be in a hybrid format, please sign up for either an online or in person ticket. If you are planning on coming in person, you will need to register by the end of Sunday, the 2nd of March, to give us time to prepare the final guest list for the Scottish Parliament. Online tickets will be available until start of the event.