Power, Place and Prosperity: A Highland plan for the energy transition
Highland CIC sets out Manifesto: Who Benefits?
Businesses and communities unite behind manifesto to secure fairer returns from Scotland’s energy transition
Businesses, community organisations and public sector representatives have united behind a new manifesto calling for the Highlands to secure more equitable economic, social and environmental returns from Scotland’s energy transition.
Highland CIC unveiled the manifesto at an event today (Wednesday, 25 March) at The Strathdearn Hub, Tomatin, near Inverness, attended by representatives from businesses, community organisations and the public sector. The Highland CIC manifesto positions the transition as one of the greatest opportunities of a generation to build a more resilient and sustainable Highland community.
Highland Community Interest Company has called for the Highlands to receive its “fair share” of the economic and social benefits from Scotland’s energy transition, as it launches a new manifesto ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
Against a backdrop of global geopolitical uncertainty and rising energy costs, the manifesto highlights the urgent need to connect energy production with local benefit, fair pricing and long-term regional resilience. The manifesto argues that, despite producing a significant proportion of the UK’s renewable energy and hosting major transmission infrastructure, the Highlands continues to face persistent challenges including fuel poverty, high energy costs, rural social care gaps and the outward migration of young people. These challenges are increasingly stark at a time when the Highlands is playing a critical role in delivering the UK’s green energy transition.
Central to the proposals is the creation of a Highland Regional Sustainable Investment Plan, designed to better align funding from the private sector, public bodies and philanthropic organisations. The organisation is seeking £2 million in support from the next Scottish Government to develop the plan and ensure that the value created by the energy transition is retained and reinvested in the Highlands, delivering lasting benefits for people and communities, in partnership with community leaders who are already demonstrating the ambition and readiness to lead.
Yvonne Crook, Chair of Highland CIC, said the region’s role in the energy transition had yet to translate into consistent local benefit that reduces poverty and improves everyday life for people across the Highlands.
“The Highlands is at the heart of the UK’s energy transition, and this is one of the greatest opportunities our region has seen in generations,” she said.
“But at a time when delivering the energy transition and long-term resilience is more urgent than ever, it is not enough to generate power, we must ensure the benefits are really felt where that power is produced.
“The scale of change now underway means we cannot afford to get this wrong. We need to move beyond fragmented approaches and ensure the benefits of the energy transition are shared more widely across the Highlands,” she said.
“What I’ve seen over the past five years is that the Highlands has the leadership, the ambition and the vision and has already made unprecedented levels of investment. The next step is to ensure that value is retained and shared more widely across the region.”
“It’s a matter of fairness. We have the partnerships, the experience and the ambition. We need one thing from the next Scottish Government: a commitment to a new model that finally delivers for communities, energy, tourism and the environment together.”
The manifesto places a strong emphasis on community-led development and calls for closer alignment between renewable energy investment and wider regional economic strategy.
Maggie Cunningham, a board member of Highland CIC and Chair of the Kyle and Lochalsh Community Development Trust, said local organisations were already playing a significant role.
“Communities across the Highlands are already doing extraordinary work – supporting people, strengthening local culture and finding ways to create opportunity in the face of real challenges,” she said.
“We see every day the impact of poverty, fragile services and the pressures facing our communities, but we also see the leadership, commitment and resilience that exists across communities in the Highlands.
“The opportunity now is to build on that strength. We need a clearer, more coordinated regional approach so that communities and third sector organisations have a framework to work within and can play their full role in shaping a future that delivers lasting benefit for people and places across the Highlands.”
The manifesto also frames the Highlands as central to Scotland’s wider priorities around clean energy, climate resilience and sustainable tourism, arguing that a more coordinated regional strategy is needed to align policy, investment and community action and deliver shared outcomes at scale.
Former Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Michael Matheson, who recently joined the Highland CIC board, said the region was well placed to demonstrate how the transition could be delivered more equitably.
“The Highlands has a unique opportunity to show how the energy transition can deliver not just for the wider economy, but for the communities that are hosting much of this infrastructure,” he said.
“What this manifesto sets out is a practical and ambitious pathway to achieving that, bringing together public sector leadership, private investment and community action.
“If we get that alignment right, we can ensure the transition supports good jobs, strengthens local economies and delivers lasting benefits for people across the region for generations to come.”
Highland CIC is now calling on political parties contesting next year’s Scottish Parliament election to back this partnership-led approach, ensuring that the region supporting the delivery of Scotland’s energy, climate and economic priorities has the strategic framework, long-term investment and support it needs.