02 Mar 2022
By Richard Muir, Deputy Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Last week marked 100 days since Glasgow hosted COP26 and it was an appropriate time for the Glasgow Chamber along with Glasgow City Council, Invest Glasgow and other stakeholders to gather for an event with business and academia to discuss the partnerships forged and further strengthened during COP, while exploring key opportunities for the future.
Since then, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has been released confirming our worst fears that human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption, despite efforts to reduce the risks.
At last week’s ‘COP26 - First 100 Days’ event, we focused on the key partnerships driving Glasgow’s green transformation and building inclusive growth. We also wanted to emphasise the importance of an innovation eco-system for both established and new businesses, linking to the further and higher education sectors and a supportive public sector environment.
COP26 has left behind some incredible opportunities and the Chamber’s own Climate Chamber initiative aims to harness that momentum and build a new high skills and high value economy.
A vital element of our follow up work has to be with the 85 companies from 15 countries who have climate and trade aspirations and who took part in our international trade mission in November. We have a unique opportunity to tap into British Chamber of Commerce network and work with partner Chambers in countries such Norway, Germany, Italy, USA, Israel, Singapore and Indonesia, and facilitate meaningful connections and influence policy based on the requirements of businesses.
To maintain that momentum, we have created an online platform called Climate Chamber City, encouraging businesses as a community to continue to connect, learn through virtual classrooms and to trade with each other to win valuable contracts in a sustainable way. The platform will be launched in April, allowing businesses to explore opportunities in sectors such as renewables, transportation and mobility, green finance and engineering and manufacturing. The platform will be ultimately measured on the numbers of positive outcomes for Scottish companies in terms of generating new business, as well as the sharing of best practice, and encouraging different sized companies from various sectors to collaborate and innovate together.
Inward and outward trade missions will complement this work and this year’s calendar already looks busy. Groups visiting Glasgow include a trip promoting opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean, a senior business delegation from Lower Saxony in Germany in March, and a life science delegation coming from Orange County in California in the Autumn.
Outward trade missions are planned too including a renewable energy mission for Scottish companies to Oslo in May, focusing on opportunities particularly in offshore wind, hydrogen, solar heat energy / storage and green tech. The renewable energy and green industries are key sectors in Norway, with 98% of its electricity produced based on renewables, and they are pioneering in technologies such as floating wind, zero-emission shipping and carbon capture, utilisation and storage. Scottish business are well placed and poised to tap into these markets and it will be important for us to involve our own universities and colleges as well as Glasgow City Council and Scottish Government officials in these exchanges.
It is also hoped that that many of our leading businesses will be keen to visit Egypt in November for COP27 and build on the momentum of its predecessor in Glasgow.
What is clear is that the ‘so called ‘triple helix’ of business, government and academia must continue to collaborate if we are to properly innovate, create sustainable solutions, and help establish and expand our leading businesses on a world stage whilst making a difference to climate challenges.
This article was first published in The Herald on Wednesday 2 March 2022
