Create a wealth fund

The boon from oil and gas in the north sea was wasted - the money is gone.

Norway has a wealth fund of over $1 trillion.

Scotland is potentially at the start of a new boom of renewable energy generation and has a capability to produce vastly more energy than it needs and can export this across Europe.

Rather than squander this money - profits, fees or taxes from renewable energy should be placed into a wealth fund to benefit Scotland moving forward. Unlike oil and gas this is an endless supply and could fund Scotland for generations.

Perhaps this wealth fund could be the basis of providing funding for renewable schemes in itself - investing in renewable energy schemes and research, owning not only production capability but patents and expertise that can be sold abroad and used to help in fighting climate change.

All governments have a tendency to spend all revenue coming in.

Building a wealth fund is vital to ensure a fair society moving forward. With aging populations and so forth there is going to be a point where expenditure exceeds revenue and people will suffer.

By their very nature governments are short term - looking at election cycles - a wealth fund could avoid this.

Whether this is a Scotland wide scheme or a community based one (similar to Shetland) is a question to answer in the future.