Five rival bids have been submitted to become one of Scotland’s two green freeports.
The scheme will introduce tax breaks to support trade in two designated areas across the country, and are expected to draw in billions of pounds of investment.
A frontrunner bid is Firth of Forth Green Freeport, which will include the ports at Leith, Rosyth, Burntisland and Grangemouth, as well as Edinburgh airport. Others include Clyde Green Freeport, which ties in Glasgow airport; Aberdeen City and Peterhead Green Freeport; Opportunity Inverness and Cromarty Firth; and Orkney Green Freeport.
The UK and Scottish governments will jointly decide on the winning projects, with officials examining the five applications through a scoring system that includes points for high-quality employment, plans to attract companies, a move towards net-zero emissions by 2045 and how quickly the sites can be up and running.
It is hoped that the preferred bidders will be announced before the end of the year and the green freeports can be operational in the early part of next year.
