Green Recovery

Building on its recent advice paper on the Just Transition Commission interim report, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) has prepared a submission to the Scottish Parliament Environment, Climate Change, and Land Reform Committee’s call for evidence on a green recovery from COVID-19.

The response comments on the principles for a resilient recovery as proposed by the UK Committee on Climate Change. It suggests they are particularly well-suited to supporting circular economy aims and alleviating inequalities. It also recommends the addition of a principle pertaining to developing a well-being economy and encouraging a more participatory democracy. It discusses sectoral barriers to achieving a green recovery and highlights the importance of additional research in understanding the employment opportunities that will characterise net-zero jobs. Finally, it proposes immediate actions in the form of financial measures, research, and retraining, and suggests how the 2021/22 budget might prioritise additional investment into further decarbonisation, circular economy objectives, and improving environmental adaptive capacity.

RSE advice paper, Green recovery (75KB, PDF)