This summer we revealed that convicted loyalists from Belfast travelled to Glasgow for a far right protest. Further digging has unearthed a rapidly expanding anti-immigration network between Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Authorities tightened the rules around this Scottish business scheme after years of exploitation for financial crime. Moscow entities – and a man accused of facilitating child sex abuse – are still selling it to clients seeking “financial privacy”.
The Scottish Government’s green watchdog sent seven letters over three years alleging multiple breaches at a fish farm – and then issued a final warning letter.
As part of the The Ferret’s series on Scotland’s Carbon Credits, we revealed the developers behind the carbon market green rush – and the companies and organisations buying carbon credits. We’ve now mapped all of Scotland’s carbon capture sites and explored the top 20, which span from Galloway to Caithness.
The Ferret looked at the 790 Scottish projects voluntarily listed on the peatland and woodland carbon codes, and have mapped each one below.
The projects – which make up 63,453 hectares – could allow developers to state that nearly 14m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) have been absorbed over the next century.
Carbon capture schemes generate carbon credits, which can be used by companies and organisations – or sold to others – to compensate for the emissions they release.
You can switch between the top 20 largest carbon capture sites and a complete listing of all sites by clicking the boxes in the top left corner of the map.
Each circle represents a carbon capture site. Click any circle for more information about the site, such as its name, developer, size and type of project.
You can read about the developers behind the largest sites – and the global firms snapping up Scotland’s carbon credits – as part of our wider investigation.
Jamie is an investigative journalist who writes on issues such as illicit finance, dark money, political influence, land ownership, nature, the environment and far right extremism. He loves puns but has yet to use them in his reporting.
We looked at inspection reports from the body which certifies “highest standard” farms with a public-facing ‘green tick’ — and found there have been breaches of its rules at dozens of fish farms.
Threats facing our mountains, forests and national parks are increasing, but the level of monitoring of our “protected sites” has almost halved in five years, Scottish Environment LINK has found.
The Scottish Government has been supportive of controversial green data centres and is liaising with the industry. But critics argue there are environmental considerations and companies must not be allowed to “write the rules”.