Tuesday 29 March 2011

Edinburgh takes Green Bank bid to Parliament

A bid to bring the Green Investment Bank to Scotland will begin tomorrow at Westminster.

Leading business players and Scottish MPs will be at the House of Commons to make a case for locating the bank in Edinburgh.

The site of the bank seems to be a two-horse race between London and Edinburgh.

London's backers will argue that as the financial powerhouse of the UK it is logical the GIB is based there, but Edinburgh's supporters say the Scottish capital has the edge on green finance expertise.

Earlier this year, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne told a meeting of the Scottish Parliament's economy, energy and tourism committee that Edinburgh had a "very special advantage" because its financial institutions had a strong track record in lending to renewable energy companies.

Edinburgh West MP Mike Crockart, who will be among this week's delegation, 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."