Call for confirmation of its mission and ethics
Campaigners have criticised the new Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) for not confirming its ethical standards.
The bank has started lending to the private sector but critics say its ethical standards or its mission haven’t been stated despite being required by law.
The aim is for the bank to provide patient capital – long term investment for businesses and projects on Scotland that is too often left aside by existing private sector investors.
The Bank will use £2 billion of Scottish government funding over its first decade to invest in businesses and projects that “help Scotland meet its 2045 net zero target, tackle place based inequality and foster innovation in the country’s businesses.”
However Friends of the Earth Scotland said it saw a draft of the bank’s ethical standards in October 2019 but the document remains unpublished. An ethical policy is required by law, following amendments to the SNIB Bill supported by MSPs in the Spring. Without a publicly available ethical policy checks and balances to ensure the bank invests for the public good are limited.
Ric Lander, Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government has promised their new public bank will invest ethically to cut climate pollution and provide green jobs. With no ethical standards published and missions not yet approved by Parliament the SNIB appears to be spending cash before it has its house in order.
“Despite lending having begun, we can’t yet say whether the SNIB is an ethical or green bank.
“The public deserves to know where the line is drawn, to know that public money will not fund disastrous projects like Arctic oil drilling, nuclear weapons or fracking.”
The SNIB is also required to have public “missions”, but these have not yet been confirmed.
Lander added: “With the economy and people’s lives in such turmoil due to the Coronavirus pandemic, public investment is of critical importance to all our futures.
“The Scottish National Investment Bank could shape our economy to build back better tackling fuel poverty, creating new renewables supply chain jobs, decarbonising our heating and financing zero carbon transport.
“The Scottish Government must evidence investment in zero-carbon companies and publish its ethical standards so the public can trust that the Bank is working for the benefit of people and planet, as it was intended to do.”
The creation of a Scottish National Investment bank was first announced in the Programme for Government in 2018, followed by the introduction of the Scottish National Investment Bank Bill to the Scottish Parliament in February 2019.
