‘The Credibility Gap for Green Finance’ is a piece of research and analysis written by Jon Hollingdale, an independent forestry and land use consultant and researcher. Jon’s paper critiques the ‘green finance gap’ for Scotland, which was calculated in a report published by the Green Finance Institute. This is an important contribution to the debate about how Scotland responds to the climate and biodiversity crises.
It considers in turn:
• the “finance gap for UK nature” as estimated by the Green Finance Institute ;
• the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NatureScot and three private sector financial organisations to mobilise £2 billion of investment in woodland creation;
• the extent of the finance gap for woodland creation in Scotland, and what alternative measures might help close it. It concludes that:
• the extent of any finance gap, at least in respect of woodland creation, is greatly exaggerated by the Green Finance Institute report;
• demand for the private loan finance outlined in the NatureScot/Private Finance MoU is not clear; the finance will not obviously add significant value, whilst investment on the scale proposed seems unnecessary and unachievable in practice
• there are other potential mechanisms to incentivise and stimulate woodland creation, which might prove more effective in tackling climate change and would do more to deliver the Scottish Government’s wider land reform and community wealth building agendas.