Essay: Integrated care systems and strategic authorities
Coming together to tackle health inequalities and the wider determinants of health Strategic authorities and integrated care systems are increasingly…
Scotland’s abundant natural resources are powering a fast-growing renewables sector. Today, renewables generate more electricity than the nation consumes and sector turnover is estimated at £10 billion. While a small part of the money currently made through renewables is reinvested in projects that benefit local residents, with community benefit funds worth £30m having been awarded in 2024, these arrangements remain voluntary and vary by geography and developer.
CLES partnered with the Scottish Community Coalition on Energy – a group of organisations advocating to maximise the positive impacts of the renewables revolution for communities – to explore what their proposal for a Scottish Community Wealth Fund would look like in practice. A Scottish Community Wealth Fund would increase the level of local community benefits, while also creating a complementary national fund and ethical investment strand to build long-term shared wealth.
We drew on Scottish and international fund models to consider governance, structure and strategic alignment and also undertook initial financial forecasting, to estimate the revenue that enhanced contributions and a Scottish Community Wealth Fund could raise across the onshore and offshore wind generation sectors. The modelling points to the potential for substantial new funding as generation capacity ramps up in the coming years, which could both enhance local community benefit investments and help to establish a national fund. At the same time, our modelling highlights important constraints, including limited public data on profitability, the effects of investor and wider economic pressures on the sector’s growth, and the impact of rising transmission charges (TNUoS).
This research is the first step in a long journey to explore, establish and deliver a Scottish Community Wealth Fund. Further research will be required to determine realistic contributions and detailed fund governance mechanisms. However, the fund represents an internationally unique proposition which puts communities at the heart of a national wealth funding model.
