Chamber and committees

Will you clarify whether you are able to work across sectors and not exclusively in the private sector? Are you able to work with public companies and social enterprises? We have great examples of public companies delivering heat, such as Aberdeen Heat & Power, and I know that local councils are interested in that space of delivering heat networks and local heat to communities. Can they get support from enterprise agencies to do that or are there restrictions on the agencies’ remits? Are you working across sectors?

I was struck by Andy McDonald’s earlier comments about the challenge with heat decarbonisation. It is enormously challenging: 1,000,000 homes will have to be decarbonised by 2030 in order to meet Government targets. Perhaps you can give us a bit more background on how you see the skills gap in heat decarbonisation being filled.

In addition, I would like to know more about the relationship between the enterprise agencies and the new public energy agency that will be launched. How will delivery work, in that regard? How will we develop supply chains and deliver at a scale that has never previously been seen in Scotland?

My next question is for SOSE and HIE. There is a commitment in the co-operation agreement between my party and the Scottish Government to develop at least one national park by the end of this parliamentary session. What are your perspectives on that? Can we learn any lessons from the existing national parks on the job opportunities that might come from that?

Will you work with campaigns in the south of Scotland to develop a prospectus for a national park, or is that outwith your remit?

You mentioned that you have a seat on the board of some of the companies that you are investing in. I know that other fund managers do that. For example, Baillie Gifford has a direct relationship with the portfolio companies that it invests in through its positive change programme. Of the seven investments that you have made so far, with which companies do you have board representation?

I have a couple of follow-up questions. First, I am interested in where you draw the line in relation to exclusions and ethical screening. For example, Eilidh Mactaggart mentioned munitions companies. If a munitions company wanted to diversify into using some of its military hardware for a technical application to do with climate change or whatever, would that be within your scope for investment?

Another example might be forestry. The investments that are taking place are massively welcome, but how far do you go in screening how they are used in marketing? For example, Shell might say, “Come and fill up your car at this petrol station with our petrol and diesel—it’s fine because, for every tank of fuel you buy from us, we are investing in another five trees.”

In thinking about those secondary ethical considerations, I am interested in where you draw the line in your governance with regard to those companies.

It would be useful if the committee could get that information in a list.

Good morning. I will ask about the UK Government’s engagement in the beyond oil and gas alliance. That initiative is being led by the Danish Government but it seems to be building up a head of steam: Germany, Iceland, Costa Rica, Belize, Portugal, Netherlands, Ireland and New Zealand are all engaging in the work of the alliance. What conversations have there been with the Danish Government about that? How do you intend to engage in the conversation that will be launched at COP26 in Glasgow?

Coming back to the points that have been made about how UK oil and gas policy might be evolving, particularly with regard to alignment with the Paris agreement, I wonder whether the policy of maximum economic recovery actually puts the oil and gas companies in quite a difficult position. If I were on the board of Shell—which I am not, by the way—I would be faced with, on one hand, a Dutch court ruling telling us that the company has to reduce by 45 per cent its emissions not just from production but from the sale of all fossil fuels and, on the other, the legal obligation that we would have under UK law to extract every single drop from the reserves if we had a licence, under maximum economic recovery. Can you see the difficulty in making the transition under the current policy of maximum economic recovery? If so, how do you see that policy changing over time?

That suggests that there will be some need for oil and gas, going forward. However, do you acknowledge that that is not the same as maximum economic recovery? That is not the same as there being 20 billion barrels of oil and gas in the North Sea; there might be somewhere south of 6 billion barrels.