The meeting took place at the RBS Accelerator in Edinburgh ahead of GEFI’s Festive Fireside event. The meeting commenced with opening remarks from Taskforce Chair, David Pitt-Watson, who provided a recap on the progress the Taskforce has made in 2022.
With no formal presentations on the agenda, the Secretariat provided an update on the progress being made on each of the 4 workstreams as agreed at the previous meeting.
KEY DISCUSSION POINTS
1. Education, Training, Qualifications and Research (ETQR)
The ETQR working group presented an update on the potential activity plan which includes: benchmarking Scotland against other global centres; engaging with Government around education policy; engaging with training providers (Higher Education, Further Education, Professional Bodies and employers) and exploring the scope for creating a Think Tank.
It was noted that efforts were continuing to promote the short brochure on ETQR opportunities in Scotland.
Finally, it was announced that GEFI is supporting Dubai International Finance Centre on Climate Finance Training Series for UAE finance practitioners. The first session involves a number of Taskforce members therefore providing a good example of Scotland exporting knowledge globally.
2. Investigating and Developing the Domestic Market
There continues to be a gap between investors and investible projects and this issue has been raised at meetings with Scottish Government officials, the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise.
Following a discussion on the First Minister’s new Investor Panel, members agreed that the Taskforce has a role to play in advising on how Scotland can create the right conditions to attract global capital investment to develop the physical infrastructure required for a just transition.
3. Mapping and Positioning
This update started with a summary of the branding workshop that took place early December. The workshop was intended to help identify key messages (script) that frame Scotland as a premier global location for green and sustainable Finance. A follow-up workshop is scheduled to review the findings and agree a set of final statements that can be used by Scottish financial services stakeholders.
Impact investing is emerging as a potential USP for Scotland and at its Investment Summit in December, the Scottish National Investment Bank launched “Unlocking the potential of impact investing in Scotland – A landscape review”.
Connectivity between Edinburgh and London continues to grow with TheCityUK hosting its regional conference in Edinburgh in December and the Lord Mayor and City of London Corporation delegation visiting Edinburgh early 2023.
Finally, it was noted that SFE hosted a webinar with Z/Yen on “Financial Services In Scotland – Edinburgh & Glasgow As Financial Centres” in October and that discussions are continuing with Financial Centres for Sustainability.
4. Product Innovation: Natural Capital
A working group has been established to explore opportunities for Scotland to leverage the work being undertaken by the UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum which has been established to provide a high integrity market ecosystem that aims to develop verifiable, and effective offset solutions.
Additional discussion
The meeting concluded with an update on plans to produce an Interim Report that the Taskforce Chair will present to Scottish Government in January 2023 and a discussion on how Scotland can leverage the announcement of the “Edinburgh Reforms” of UK financial services.