The next item of business is a statement by Gillian Martin on the “Climate Change Plan Monitoring Report 2025”.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Although I welcome the opportunity to hear from the Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy on the Scottish Government’s plans to update its climate change plan, should we not have had the opportunity to hear from the Scottish Government after it had properly considered the United Kingdom Climate Change Committee’s Scotland carbon budget advice report, which I understand is due to be released tomorrow? Why did the Scottish Government not change the timing of the statement, not least because this has happened before?
Thank you Ms Boyack. That is not a point of order.
The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.
14:51
Members across the chamber will agree with me when I say that a Scotland that is damaged irreparably by the effects of climate change and nature loss is not a Scotland that any of us wants to see. Climate change is not a far-off concern; it is a reality, and its effects are already being felt in our everyday lives and the lives of our constituents. It is a reality that includes more violent storms, such as storm Éowyn earlier this year; more severe droughts; wildfires such as those that we are seeing right now in Moray and have seen recently in Arran and West Lothian; and life-changing floods.
Climate change is not a figment of our collective imagination. Polling shows that the majority of Scots believe that climate change is an urgent problem and agree on the importance and magnitude of the task at hand. Research by world-leading experts, including the world’s economic watchdog, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, shows that taking strong action to tackle the climate crisis and investing in transitions away from the causes of climate change will increase countries’ economic growth as well as making our environment healthier.
Concerningly, climate change scepticism is gaining traction in public, parliamentary and media discourse, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is an existential threat. Anti-climate rhetoric presents a serious challenge to our ability to deal with the crisis, and it is something that we must confront collectively and constructively in this Parliament and across our society.
The purpose of today’s statement is to update the Parliament on the progress on our most recent climate change plan, which was updated in 2021. Today, the Scottish Government published its fifth annual statutory monitoring report for the updated climate change plan. I will be able to answer questions on the report, which tracks progress on up to 200 ambitious policies that are outlined in the existing climate change plan, utilising a robust monitoring framework. The framework sets a series of policy indicators for each outcome of the plan—a specific measurable indication of progress. The Scottish Government then reviews each policy indicator against the most recent data that is available and assesses each indicator to establish whether it is on track or off track or whether it is too early to say.
This year’s progress report shows that, out of 43 policy indicators, 16 are on track and 17 are off track, and it is too early to say for the other 10. First, it is important to note that we do not believe that the off-track indicators in the report jeopardise our ability to reach our ambitious goal of net zero by 2045—five years ahead of the rest of the UK. However, we should all investigate and understand the reasons why we are off track in those areas and ramp up action, whether that is as parliamentarians, industry, the public and private sectors or as citizens, because it is the responsibility of us all.
We are fully committed to taking decisive action to ensure that we get back on track and make meaningful progress towards our goal. In the four years since the last climate change plan was finalised, we have extended free bus travel, which now benefits more than 2.3 million people, published the landmark Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 and introduced a ban on the supply and manufacture of certain problematic single-use plastic items, including single-use cutlery, plates, food containers and more.
We have also fully allocated the £30 million electric vehicle infrastructure fund, which is expected to deliver around 6,000 additional public charge points by 2030.
Further, we have created more than 15,000 hectares of new woodland in 2023-24, which is the highest level of woodland creation for 34 years, and we have committed to restoring more than 10,000 hectares of peatland in 2024-25, with an ambition to restore at least 14,000 hectares of peatland in 2025-26.
In addition, we have brought into force the new-build heat standard, published a draft transport just transition plan and put reforms in place for tackling agricultural emissions. We also launched an emerging energy technologies fund, committing £80 million of funding to support the development of carbon capture and storage and negative emissions technologies in Scotland.
In our programme for government, which we published at the start of the month, we committed to getting rid of ScotRail peak rail fares, to encourage commuters to use public transport; extending our nature restoration fund and establishing statutory targets to improve biodiversity; banning the supply and sale of single-use vapes by 1 June; and introducing our heat in buildings bill by the end of this parliamentary term.
Scotland is halfway to net zero. However, despite all that progress, it is important to note that the UK Government holds key policy levers with which to deliver the net zero future that will make our lives healthier, our communities more resilient and, indeed, tackle fuel poverty at the same time as reducing harmful emissions.
I once again call on the UK Government to act in a number of ways. It is essential that the UK Government provides certainty in the upcoming spending review, so that all investors can continue their work on developing the Acorn carbon capture and storage project. Carbon capture and storage is vital for a just transition. The Climate Change Committee has advised many times that it
“cannot see a route to Net Zero that does not include CCS.”
Today, we have also published the annual update to the Scottish nitrogen balance sheet, which tracks how efficiently nitrogen is used in Scotland. That can help to identify further opportunities for improvement and supports in our progress towards net zero, given that nitrogen is our third most prevalent greenhouse gas.
Scotland continues to be ahead of the UK as a whole in delivering long-term emissions reductions, but the year ahead will be critical in setting us on the path to net zero in 2045. I am confident that we will continue leading on climate action that is fair, ambitious and capable of rising to the emergency that is before us.
We will soon be setting out our proposed emissions trajectory to 2045, based on five-year carbon budgets, through secondary legislation to amend the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. Tomorrow, our independent advisers on the Climate Change Committee will publish advice on what they believe those carbon budget levels should be. We will carefully consider the committee’s advice before introducing regulations to set Scotland’s carbon budget levels. That will include consideration of the target-setting criteria that is set out under the act and an assessment of whether the pace of decarbonisation is appropriate for people, sectors and businesses across Scotland. The carbon budgets that are proposed via secondary legislation will provide an achievable pathway to net zero in 2045. That will be one that takes the public with us, leaving no one behind.
That will be followed by a new climate change plan, which will outline our policies and proposals for reducing emissions between 2026 and 2040. We will introduce that shortly after the carbon budget secondary legislation has been approved.
The scale of change that is needed for the next part of our journey is significant, but that also comes with significant benefits for our communities. Delivering our ambitious climate targets will transform our economy and society, and they will be underpinned by sustained public and private investment in infrastructure. A net zero Scotland is one that is more resilient to global shocks and weather events, and has a growing economy with high-value job opportunities.
Professor Graeme Roy, who is the chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, said:
“not responding to the challenge of climate change ... will be far more expensive and damaging to the public finances than investing in net zero ... it is simply not an option.”
There is no small task in front of us, but through the considered action and commitment of this Government, and with the support from this Parliament and the public, we will set Scotland on the correct course for a healthier future.
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business. I would be grateful if all members who wish to put questions were to press their request-to-speak buttons now.
I thank the cabinet secretary for providing advance sight of her statement.
Only this devolved Government could have a climate change plan monitoring report when it does not have a climate change plan, after it was forced to ditch it. From the update, we see that only 16 of the 43 indicators are on track, but this devolved Government shamelessly claims to be world leading. You could not make it up—that is more pathetic spin from this out-of-touch Government. I do not think that world leaders will be calling to ask it for advice. The Government needs a reality check.
We need a commonsense, affordable transition that takes households with us, not a transition that will make families poorer and widen inequalities. Our rural communities are paying the price for this Government’s folly of putting all its eggs into one renewables basket, with hundreds of battery storage sites, substations and monster pylons scarring our countryside.
Is that just the price that our rural communities have to pay for net zero? The energy strategy and just transition plan is years late. Will the cabinet secretary confirm whether it will be issued before the summer recess, or does she have no idea?
Now that countries such as Denmark have come to realise that nuclear has a part to play in clean, green power, will the Government get its head out of the sand and drop its ban on nuclear power?
Scotland has a very good story to tell on the drive to renewables and reducing the emissions that are associated with electricity supply—that is why we have achieved 50 per cent of our target for 2045.
I must correct Mr Lumsden when he says that I am commenting on a climate change plan that does not exist. We have a climate change plan that was published in 2021, and under the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, we have to produce reports such as the one that I am speaking to today, which is based on the 2021 climate change plan.
As I have set out to Parliament—members of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee should be well versed in this—the climate change plan for the next five years will be set out once the secondary legislation has gone through Parliament, and as a result of the advice that I will receive tomorrow from the Climate Change Committee. As soon as the secondary legislation—which is new legislation—that is associated with the carbon budget that is being put in place is agreed, we will put forward the next climate change plan. As part of that plan, there will be yearly statements like the one that I have given today.
We are fully committed to addressing the challenges in front of us and taking decisive action. Douglas Lumsden seems to think that we can do that without getting renewables on to the grid. I am speaking as cabinet secretary today, but, speaking also as a north-east MSP, I think that it is important to realise that there will be thousands of jobs for the north and the north-east of Scotland associated with the energy transition and the build-out of ScotWind. We could be looking at replacing many of the jobs that will inevitably, unfortunately, disappear as a result of the downturn in oil and gas in the basin.
How we do that is important, but it is critical that we do it. That is a fact: we have to do it. I take on board Douglas Lumsden’s points about how we do it and how we bring communities with us, and I am determined to work with members across all parties on that. Nonetheless, we must decarbonise—that is a scientific fact.
I thank the cabinet secretary for providing advance notice of her statement.
I agree that the climate emergency is now having a negative impact on communities, so when are we going to see action across Scotland to reduce our damaging climate emissions? None of this is new, and the Scottish Government has been rolling back on commitments and continually missing targets. How, therefore, can our constituents have any confidence that the progress that they need will be delivered?
Will the cabinet secretary acknowledge that the climate change plan needs to focus on using the Parliament’s powers to the max, and publish a working draft now? Can she tell us what the Government is doing to get the 17 indicators that are off track back on track and to make people’s existing homes warmer and energy efficient?
Given that the Government has dumped its car reduction target, what is it doing to ensure that people have access to the buses that they urgently need across our urban and rural communities?
I do not have time to go through every one of the 17 indicators, but I will point to a couple of them. Landfill waste is one of the indicators on which we are slightly off track. We want to be in a situation in which waste from municipal local authorities does not go to landfill, so we have given 95 per cent of the £70 million recycling improvement fund to local authorities. The extended producer responsibility for packaging will also make a big difference to local authorities.
On the point about cars, it is important to recognise the diverse nature of Scotland. In some areas, a car will always be necessary. With that in mind—Ms Hyslop is with me just now—the delivery of EV charging points in Scotland has exceeded the number that we promised. We need to concentrate on improving public transport in our urban environments, because people should not really need a car in places such as central Edinburgh.
In particular, we are not going as fast as we could with the indicators on the transition to electric vehicles, and we must recognise the barriers that are in place for people when it comes to purchasing EVs. We have massively improved the charging infrastructure, and Scotland is the only country in the UK that still has grants and loans for buying not just EVs, but the associated home charging infrastructure. We are making big improvements in those areas to give people who are making decisions about what car to drive the choice and ability to do that without undue expense.
Can the cabinet secretary outline what steps the Scottish Government is taking to support investment in renewables, particularly through the 2025-26 Scottish budget? How is that investment expected to help to grow and develop that vital sector across Scotland, especially given how well placed we are as a nation to harness our renewables potential?
Elena Whitham mentioned the Scottish budget. We are investing up to £500 million over five years to support market certainty, to create a highly productive and competitive offshore wind economy, and to support thousands of jobs while embedding innovation and boosting skills. Our investment is expected to leverage additional private investment of £1.5 billion in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities that are critical to growing the offshore wind sector. We are almost tripling our capital funding for offshore wind to £150 million in 2025-26.
The expansion of offshore wind represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity that will create thousands of high-quality jobs and increase the supply of clean electricity to the whole of Scotland and beyond. The associated jobs will drive growth, foster innovation and generate wealth.
Over time, the amount of electricity that we produce should bring down the cost of electricity for households. That is why we are also targeting funding for colleges to teach people the skills that are required by establishing an offshore wind skills programme, which will help to create region-specific training hubs for offshore wind skills, including in Ms Whitham’s constituency.
Using local authority-managed charge points costs around the same price as petrol, although they are often broken. Using private charge points costs double. People with a driveway, who are generally richer, can charge at home for a fraction of the price. That is not fair for the hundreds of thousands of Scots who are being priced out of the electric vehicle market. Will the cabinet secretary guarantee that the new charge points will cost less than petrol?
I am always interested to see Maurice Golden’s political journey, because that sounds very much like something that I would say about the cost of the wholesale electricity price, which has to come down for consumers more generally.
He is right to point out that public charge points are more expensive to use than home charge points. That also speaks to the point that I made earlier about our Government still giving grants and loans that are associated with home charging. However, home charging is not right for everyone, so I hope that Mr Golden will join me in calling for a reduction in the wholesale electricity price more generally, so that we can roll out more EV use.
The issue is not only about EV charging; it is also about reducing our reliance on burning gas to heat our homes. I am lobbying the UK Government on electricity prices as part of its current consultation on the review of electricity market arrangements. The member is absolutely right that, until the wholesale price of electricity goes down, people will continue to see that cost as a barrier to adopting an electric vehicle. However, the Scottish Government is doing what it can to provide certainty on the infrastructure here and to help households to install their own charging points.
It is recognised that a just transition will play a crucial role in our fight to tackle climate change. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to improve funding for a just transition in Scotland? How will the £500 million just transition fund for the north-east and Moray contribute to that? Will the cabinet secretary join me in again calling on the United Kingdom Government to match that ambition?
As Jackie Dunbar mentioned, this month the Scottish Government launched a new funding call for the north-east and Moray just transition fund that will be worth up to £8.5 million over the coming year. It will ensure that we continue to create jobs, support innovation and secure the highly skilled workforce that will be needed in the future.
Since 2022, we have allocated £75 million to projects such as the one that I mentioned, to support innovation and the creation of jobs, and also to communities throughout the region, including £9.7 million for a package of skills interventions, £30 million for innovative projects and approaches, and £4 million for empowering and investing in communities.
An independent evaluation of the fund during its first years, which I asked for ahead of rolling out this particular tranche, will be published shortly. It points to the impact of providing momentum to just transition in the region, including providing more than 750 training places, safeguarding and creating at least 230 jobs, and attracting more than £34 million of additional private investment.
The fund sends a clear signal of our support to the north-east and Moray. I call on the UK Government to match our ambition to deliver a fair and just transition to net zero, so that we can do even more.
We have already used up a considerable amount of time, but we have reached only the fifth question from members. I would therefore be grateful for concise questions and responses.
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. Ahead of this year’s international day for biological diversity, which falls on Thursday, I am glad to hear her acknowledge the reality of the catastrophic impact that a rapidly changing climate is having on our environment. However, is it not telling that nowhere in her statement was there mention of the Scottish Government’s Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill? Is that because, at a time of severe droughts, wildfires and life-changing floods, all of which put further species at risk, the bill in its current form does not bind itself to the very 2045 goal that the cabinet secretary’s statement references? Ambitious goals sound great, but it is getting the job done that matters. How confident is the cabinet secretary that the Scottish Government can meet its 2045 goal?
I did not mention the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill, because I was talking about the climate change plan update monitoring report, including the indicators that it contains. I thought that it was a good idea to stick to the subject matter of the monitoring report.
However, Ms Villalba is right. We are introducing the bill, which will set targets towards achieving a decline in nature loss. She makes a good point about the impact on biodiversity of the negative aspects of climate change that we are starting to see in Scotland. Climate change is on Scotland’s doorstep; it is not something that happens in other countries or in the global south—it happens here, too. Today we are seeing wildfires in Moray, and yesterday we saw water scarcity across the whole of the east of Scotland. All the money that we spend on climate change and adaptation, which we put into our Scottish adaptation plan, will future proof Scotland to enable it to be more resilient in the face of climate change, not least in the area of biodiversity.
Continuing on that theme, will the cabinet secretary advise how the Scottish biodiversity strategy will build on the steps that Scotland has already taken to address the biodiversity crisis, with particular regard to Scotland’s rivers, which are crucial to our environment and face the triple impact of more intensive flood events, drought events and rising temperatures?
I am grateful for the opportunity that Audrey Nicoll has given me to lay out what we are doing to address the twin crises. It is very important that she puts those crises together, because we sometimes forget that they are inextricably linked.
Investing in the restoration and protection of nature helps us to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change, as I said in my answer to Mercedes Villalba. We have set out an underpinning delivery plan in our biodiversity strategy, and significant steps have already been taken to become net zero and nature positive. Last week, the Acting Minister for Climate Action announced that we have invested more than £65 million through our innovative nature restoration fund, which supports hundreds of projects across Scotland to take positive action for nature.
In the programme for government, we announced that we will continue to support our nature restoration fund in the next financial year and ensure that we are investing in protecting and restoring our precious natural capital and bringing environmental, social and economic benefits across Scotland. As I have mentioned, we introduced the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill in order to support that ambition.
I am grateful for sight of the cabinet secretary’s statement, although the monitoring report only became available to members during the statement. The chance to have seen the report in advance would have been more useful.
Does the cabinet secretary acknowledge that the problem is not only that fewer indicators are on track and that more of them are off track than was the case a year ago but that the Scottish Government has spent that year diluting, delaying and downgrading climate-positive policies, so more aims that are in the “too early to say” column will be off track by this time next year? Will the Government change direction and restore the ambition on areas such as clean heating, in which it has clearly downgraded and ditched its previous policy commitments?
First, I apologise if people did not receive the report. I was under the impression that it was sent out well in advance, so I apologise for that. I will look into why that was not the case, because that situation is not optimal.
Patrick Harvie and I might disagree on how we get there, but we are still on track to net zero for 2045. I believe that all the climate action that we take should be achievable and bring the country with us. We need to get a lot better in the Parliament, and in our discourse in general, at showing the public why it is important for them to get behind the actions that we take. The Parliament as a whole needs to look seriously at ramping up some of the actions that we need to take, and we need to talk in positive terms about what those actions will mean for the wellbeing of people in Scotland. We also have to bear in mind that we have a cost of living crisis, so when we put in place the climate action that we want, it must be affordable and part of a just transition.
As the cabinet secretary knows, the key to reducing emissions will be reducing heat emissions. We still do not have a date for the redrafted heat in buildings bill. Given that the Parliament has been asked to pass emergency or expedited legislation on issues such as climate change and prisoner release, which we can all agree is not ideal for the scrutiny process, what assurances can the cabinet secretary give that the Parliament will have sufficient time to scrutinise that key piece of legislation?
Dr Allan has said on the record that the heat in buildings bill will be going through the Parliament in the next parliamentary year.
Before we have that bill in place, it is also important to mention what we have done in this space. In this parliamentary session, we have so far allocated £1.63 billion of funding through our heat in buildings schemes, which includes committed spend of more than £575 million for energy-efficient and clean projects. We are not having to wait for a bill in order to deliver action. I did not realise that there was doubt about that bill being put to the Parliament in the next parliamentary year, but it will happen in that time.
Scotland’s renewable energy sector has the potential to be a great export opportunity for Scotland as part of the just transition and our climate ambitions. Can the cabinet secretary speak to the importance of redevelopment of energy sites, such as Chapelcross at Annan, in my South Scotland region, in ensuring that Scotland is equipped with the powers to harness our clean energy and with help to drive down emissions while encouraging growth in the renewables sector?
The Borderlands inclusive growth deal includes a project to deliver infrastructure to support the redevelopment of the former nuclear site at Chapelcross. The development of Chapelcross in the energy transition zone will transform the local economy, creating the conditions for growth and actively kick-starting and building a market with high-value jobs.
That multimillion-pound development will include hydrogen production, storage, associated logistics, advanced manufacturing, energy and enterprise campuses. There has already been significant interest from businesses outwith the south that are keen to move into the region, which I think we would all welcome. Those include Green Cat Hydrogen, which is developing a 45-megawatt green hydrogen production facility at the site. That will potentially transform the local economy by creating around 50 high-skilled jobs.
We are over the time that has been allocated for this item. I am keen to get all members in, so please let us be concise.
Having had a chance to have a quick read of the report, I can see that one of the indicators that is off track is woodland creation. We need ambitious action on tree planting. Can the cabinet secretary tell us what she is planning to do to get that on track?
Two of my colleagues who are with me on the front bench today are integral to the drive towards emissions reduction in the agriculture, rural affairs and transport spaces.
There was a significant rise in woodland creation in 2023-24, to 15,040 hectares. That was below the target and we need to do more, but that increase included 7,700 hectares of native woodland. Graham Simpson is absolutely right that we need to ramp up action on woodland creation, and we also need more peatland restoration. For peatland, we need to look at the high-emitting sites—we need to take a targeted approach and look at sites that are not just large in hectares but where the highest emissions are.
Public transport uptake plays a key role in reducing emissions across Scotland. Will the cabinet secretary outline how bold initiatives and generous schemes, including abolishing peak rail fares for good, from the Scottish Government, are working to encourage Scots to use public transport to support tackling the climate crisis?
Marie McNair is right to point to the initiative to abolish peak rail fares in the programme for government.
We spend more than £2 billion to support public transport. As I mentioned in my statement, 2.3 million people in Scotland have access to free bus travel. Around 334 million passenger journeys were made by bus in Scotland in 2023-24, which is an increase of 13 per cent on the previous year. Since launching free bus travel for under-22s, 800,000 cards have been issued to young people, who have taken 218 million free journeys.
The budget includes an allocation of £3 million for the flat-fare pilot, which is due to commence in January 2026 and will continue. We are also at the early stages of developing a fare-cap pilot.
I can see that I am being wound up for time, Presiding Officer.
Thank you. Alexander Stewart has a brief supplementary.
Can the cabinet secretary confirm whether the energy strategy will be issued before the summer recess—yes or no?
As I have said many times in Parliament, we are working on revising the energy strategy in the light of some proceedings in the UK Supreme Court.
Finally, we have a brief question from Fergus Ewing.
In my constituency, a house builder states that he cannot get an electricity connection for a large development of affordable and mid-market-rent houses because of green tape requiring a new heat pump and electric vehicle charging points, which would lead to the electricity demand tripling. Is that a case of green tape stymieing the creation of the houses that will be needed for the 18,000 jobs that Highlands and Islands Enterprise predicts will be created for the renewables revolution? If so, will that green tape be removed so that we can get the people who are needed to deliver the renewables revolution in the Highlands?
I assume that Mr Ewing is referring to the new build heat standard. What he outlines shows the necessity of more grid infrastructure connections across Scottish and the whole of the UK so that the green electricity that is being produced can make it into the grid, which would mean that more developments, such as the one that Mr Ewing has mentioned, are connected.
That concludes the ministerial statement on the climate change plan monitoring reports. There will be a brief suspension before we move on to the next item of business.
15:25 Meeting suspended.Air adhart
Business Motion