Scottish Marine Recovery Fund: consultation

1. Non-technical summary

Delivering Scotland’s offshore wind ambitions is critical to addressing the climate and nature crises, and to realising the significant economic opportunities of Scotland’s path to net zero.

There is an ambitious pipeline of offshore wind projects in Scotland, with a current reported potential pipeline of over 40GW of offshore wind projects on top of our existing operational capacity. To maximise the delivery of offshore wind in Scotland and fulfil our environmental obligations, we are working in partnership with the UK Government to use the opportunities provided by the Energy Act 2023 to deliver ambitious policy and regulatory reform.

Subject to UK parliamentary approval, regulations made under section 292 of the Energy Act 2023 allow for the establishment, operation and management of one or more Marine Recovery Funds (MRFs). These funds would be available for use by developers of relevant offshore wind activities (as defined in the Energy Act 2023) to fulfil requirements to secure environmental compensation. Subject to a successful application and any necessary conditions being met, developers would be able to pay into an MRF, with the fund then responsible for delivering appropriate compensatory measures to offset adverse environmental effects from offshore wind. The Energy Act 2023 also allows for such compensatory measures to be delivered on a more strategic basis.

This consultation seeks your views on proposals for establishing a Scottish MRF and how it would be operated and managed. Responses to this consultation will inform the design of the Scottish MRF and the relevant UK secondary legislation which will be required to establish the Scottish MRF and delegate functions to operate and manage it.

This consultation document is structured as follows:

• Section 2 provides further information about this consultation.
• Section 3 outlines the background to this consultation and the policy objectives that establishing a Scottish MRF seeks to achieve.
• Section 4 provides further information on the role and governance of the Scottish MRF Operator.
• Section 5 sets out our proposed approach to applying to a Scottish MRF.
• Section 6 sets out our proposed approach to fees and charging to access a Scottish MRF.
• Section 7 provides further information on how different MRFs across the UK may interact with one another.
• Section 8 provides further information on impact assessments completed to inform this consultation.
• Section 9 sets out how to respond to this consultation.