Edinburgh Airport and other key areas around the River Forth have been awarded green freeport status, in a scheme agreed by the Scottish and UK governments.
Part of a winning bid, the news was announced on Friday morning as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Scotland. Ports at Grangemouth, Rosyth and Leith, as well as the airport were given the status, which offers special tax incentives and lower tariffs around ports.
Hoped to stimulate economic growth, the scheme is expected to have a huge impact on the area, with an estimated 50,000 jobs to be created, as well as £6 billion of investment.
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The Forth freeport will be based around renewables manufacturing, alternative fuels, carbon capture and shipbuilding, as well as a new creative hub.
During his visit to Scotland on Friday, Rishi Sunak said: "Working together delivers results, and I am absolutely delighted that the First Minister and I can announce the delivery of our shared ambition for people in Scotland today with not one but two excellent green freeport areas.
"In extending the benefits of freeports to Scotland, we are unleashing the potential of the Firth of Forth and Inverness and Cromarty Firth - backing the delivery of thousands of high-quality green jobs for future generations, as we continue to make gains on our commitments to transition to net zero."
Scotland's Deputy First Minister John Swinney said it was a "milestone achievement," adding:
"The successful applicants showed a strong determination to embed fair work practices, including payment of the real living wage, and to enshrine net zero initiatives in their work.
"We look forward to working closely with them to ensure they deliver maximum positive impact and become operational as soon as possible."
Reacting to the news, the City of Edinburgh Council said the Freeport would help with their green redevelopment of Edinburgh’s coastline, with Council Leader Cammy Day adding:
“This is great news for north Edinburgh, the city and the region as a whole. I want to congratulate everyone involved in what was a hugely impressive bid. The Forth Green Freeport will bring significant economic and other benefits to the region – most obviously in terms of new jobs, creating up to 50,000 in total, 11,000 of which will be here in Edinburgh.
“The project must be inclusive, benefiting local communities and providing proper pathways into work and learning for disadvantaged young people. I’ve made it clear that we need fair work, fair opportunities, with employers paying the real living wage, a unionised workforce and real benefits to the community to be central to the delivery of this project going forward.
"We’ve already had good conversations with Forth Ports and partners on the importance of working together to achieve our goals, including building more much needed affordable homes."
However the Scottish Greens have argued that the scheme will not create the economic growth expected, with finance spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP commenting: "There is nothing green about so-called green freeports. They are a failed and dated Tory gimmick which hands public cash over to multinational corporations. They offer big tax breaks to businesses while driving down terms and conditions for workers and risking significant damage to the environment.
"Where Freeports have been attempted they have only made regional inequality worse by moving jobs around the country, rather than creating new ones. Internationally, they have been consistently associated with crime, money-laundering, smuggling and low wages while driving down environmental standards.
"Under the deal struck for Scottish freeports there are no hard requirements for the companies to meet climate targets or implement fair work practices. Warm words don't protect people and the environment from greedy corporations, legal obligations do. In this case there is plenty of the former and nowhere near enough of the latter.
"Freeports will only benefit the super-rich and the big corporations who have pushed hardest for them. Local people and communities certainly won't see the benefit if precedent from across the world is anything to go by.”
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