Scotland faces a decisive decade in its battle to keep pace with other economies amid the twin challenges of deindustrialization and the drive towards New Zero accelerate, it has been warned.

Delivering the keynote address at the Business Women Scotland’s Women in Finance Awards in Glasgow – on the day that voters across Scotland go to the polls – leading Scottish businesswoman, investor and philanthropist Dr Marie Macklin CBE, will also call for a more realistic and achievable route to decarbonization, including moves to approve new North Sea oil and gas fields.

Marie’s keynote to the BWS Finance Awards audience at the Crowne Plaza, Glasgow | Thursday 7th May 2026

“Growth is not the enemy or some ugly capitalist concept. Growth delivers our transformation, which in turns delivers a fairer future, noting that ambitious social interventions can only be funded by a well-functioning, dynamic economy.

“Both the UK and Scottish Governments should commit to growth and work together to deliver it rather than fight over jurisdiction during a crisis.

“The next decade will be a hugely decisive one for Scotland’s economy – and for our overall wellbeing as a nation.

“It will decide whether Scotland and the UK are reduced to the role of declining bystanders as Europe becomes a global superpower by turning its economic scale into strategic strength, in energy, technology, defence, finance and governance.

“A true superpower energy strategy requires resilient domestic generation, modernized grids, storage capacity, hydrogen infrastructure and supply chain security from critical inputs such as lithium and rare earths. It also requires accepting that energy policy is now industrial policy, security policy and foreign policy at the same time.”   

Dr Macklin will add that the GFANZ initiative of major financial institutions combining to chart a path to global Net Zero – a project which was founded at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021 – has so far failed to match expectations.

“A Just Transition requires financial institutions to support the managed phase-out of stranded assets, such as the refinery at Grangemouth.

“A Just Transition also requires our governments and politicians to support Scotland’s oil and gas sector – and that means opening the likes of the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields in the North Sea now.

“In my opinion, the new Scottish Government’s first priority should be to knock on Westminster’s door seeking infrastructure funds to start driving capital and grants into the heart of forgotten industrial power houses at grassroots level and at a scalable level.

“This is the only way will we make our communities sing again. Scotland’s and the UK’s future hinges less on whether it has the resources to lead than on whether it has the political will to act like a power that intends to lead.”