Here are the top business stories making the headlines in the morning newspapers
Brexit challenges for renewables
Brexit has "posed challenges" to development of renewables in the UK, according to a new report into the country's energy transition.
Consultancy Cornwall Insight and law firm Womble Bond Dickinson have published a whitepaper asking whether the UK is "leading the way".
Among several key challenges, the pair said the country leaving the EU has harmed the net zero agenda.
"Following the referendum in 2016, UK policy was centred around a successful exit from the European Union, meaning that net zero commitments were not prioritised in the national agenda", the report states.
Therefore, "a period of opportunity was missed" in the late 2010s, "with Brexit partially slowing down investment into the UK".
Energy Voice says the impact on renewables from Brexit were due to limitations in the amount that international capital wanted to take exposure to sterling, the whitepaper stated.
Other key challenges outlined in the document link to a lack of policy clarity to new technologies like carbon capture, utilisation and storage and the recent surge in gas and wholesale electricity prices.
No need for panic over Covid
A government advisor has said there is no need for panic despite figures showing one in 40 people in Scotland have Covid.
Linda Bauld, the Scottish Government's chief social policy advisor, has said the rise in cases will not mean a return to restrictions.
She urged people to get their vaccine if they were offered one.
The Press and Journal says figures show that 637 people are in hospital or ICU with Covid in Scotland.
Fourth doses of the Covid vaccine are currently being offered to people over 75, and those with underlying health conditions.
Sturgeon urged to fire starting gun on referendum
Nicola Sturgeon "must fire the starting gun" in a bid to secure another independence referendum, former first minister Alex Salmond has said.
The Scottish Government is preparing to publish the first in a series of documents outlining its next steps towards indyref2.
The established route is through a Section 30 order - asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to grant Holyrood the power to hold a referendum.
That request has so far not been made.
The first minister has consistently said that last year's Scottish election result gave the Scottish Government a mandate for another referendum.
Ms Sturgeon said she would set out more detail "in substance and process" in the period ahead and that "anyone who has any respect for democracy will understand the importance of honouring that mandate".
But Mr Salmond told the BBC that if Ms Sturgeon and the Scottish Government were serious about winning a referendum next year, they must start campaigning for it now.
Morrisons increasing pay for staff
Morrisons is raising pay for its store workers as UK supermarkets battle for staff amidst increasing competition in the sector.
It will pay staff a minimum of £10.20 an hour, which the firm said made it the highest-paying UK supermarket.
Morrisons said the offer would mean a pay increase for 80,000 of its staff across the country.
The BBC says Rival chains Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda have also announced pay rises for their workers this year.
Morrisons also said that the minimum wage for London staff - covering all stores within the M25 - would be £11.05 an hour, the same rate as the voluntary London Living Wage.
Hydrogen plant gets go-ahead
Plans for a £20million facility in Scotland that will turn plastic waste into hydrogen have been approved.
West Dunbartonshire Council has given the green light for the site at Rothesay Dock on the north bank of the River Clyde.
The BBC says the plant, which will take an estimated 15 months to construct, will be the second of its kind in the UK.
The plans were lodged by Peel NRE, which is part of Peel L&P.
Peel said the facility would use new technology to create a local source of sustainable hydrogen from non-recyclable plastics otherwise destined for landfill, incineration or export overseas.
The hydrogen will be used as a clean fuel for HGVs, buses and cars, with plans for a linked hydrogen refuelling station on the site.
No gene-edited crops for Scotland
Scotland should not have food products "forced" on it because of the easing of regulations around gene editing, a government minister has said.
The UK Government has introduced a Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill which would set different rules from the EU following Brexit.
It had asked Holyrood ministers to consider allowing gene-edited crops to be grown in Scotland.
But the BBC says the idea has been dismissed by Environment Secretary Mairi McAllan.
She has written to UK Environment Secretary George Eustice and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, saying Scotland would not make the same changes as England if the bill passed.
Ms McAllan said the Scottish Government "will not accept any constraint on the exercise of its devolved powers to set standards within devolved policy areas".