The Scottish Government has awarded £7.2 million of funding to Scottish businesses to help grow their innovative energy-saving projects.
This is the second round of funding from the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF), which supports projects that aim to reduce carbon emissions that are created during energy-intensive manufacturing processes.
In this round, nine projects have been awarded funding - including food and drink manufacturing and timber pallet processing.
First Minister John Swinney visited Chivas Brothers Strathclyde Distillery in Glasgow to see new Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR) technology, which has been supported by a £3.1 million grant. It is hoped the technology will reduce carbon emissions for the distilling process by more than half and reduce energy usage by over 46,000 Megawatt hours per year.
Swinney said: “Growing the economy and tackling the climate emergency are two of my priorities in Government. Projects like the one at the Strathclyde Distillery will be essential in helping us meet our climate change ambitions and promote sustainable economic growth across Scotland – by supporting our existing energy intensive sectors and attracting the manufacturing industries of the future.
“With an average ratio of £1 of public to £1.75 of private funds, the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund has been incredibly successful in leveraging investment across industrial sites to accelerate adoption of low-carbon, energy efficient technologies. The fund also delivers business benefits through energy-related manufacturing savings.
“The SIETF demonstrates how government and industry are taking steps together to deliver against climate change plan targets by co-investing to decarbonise the industrial sites that local jobs and communities depend upon.
“We will continue to work closely with industrial sectors to support the progression of projects to decarbonise Scottish manufacturing.”
Mark Kent, Chief Executive of the Scotch Whisky Association said: “How the Scotch Whisky industry will achieve emissions reduction will be as diverse as our distilleries and locations.
"Each site will have different challenges, but through support from the Scottish Government with grants like SIETF, distilleries can accelerate decarbonisation in their own operations towards our shared industry goal of 2040.
"As an industry with a strong track record delivering environmental improvement, we are determined to achieve net zero emissions in our own operations and supply chains as fast as possible. Innovation, collaboration and an enabling policy framework will enable us to continue to celebrate and produce Scotch Whisky for the long term.”
