Seòmar agus comataidhean

My follow-up question is: what support are you giving to local authorities? In Midlothian, there is a council energy company. You talked about Aberdeen; there is Aberdeen Heat and Power. We must equip councils to make the most of this opportunity, even if waste comes from the private sector, so that we can get that joined-up approach, and income can come back through it.

We have talked about lowering electricity bills, but it is also about generating income, and doing so in a way that is fair and properly regulated. This is a plea for that to appear in the CCS plans, and for the future plan to make sure that we maximise the opportunity to lower emissions and take the community benefits that come from that.

That is the kind of thing that we need to see in the plan. We need to think about how we are future-proofing that energy-from-waste infrastructure across the country.

The other reason why they might not be here is flooding. One of the witnesses said that there are 280,000 homes at risk of flooding in Scotland, and that figure increases every decade. The communication needs to be that a mix of investment will benefit people and their property but that there is a cost of not investing. It is about ensuring that those homes are centre stage. If you own one of those 280,000 homes, your insurance bills could go up or you might not get insurance. I remember that there was a place in Wales that people had to leave because it was no longer safe. Is there more that we could do on getting the balance right in how we communicate that to people?

My question follows on from what we have said about the timescale. We already have feedback from our stakeholders through our call for views on the Scottish Government’s indicative statement. One key issue that came forward was a lack of confidence among the wider community that the Scottish Government will deliver the policies that are required to meet the budgets.

What do you think is needed in or alongside the upcoming draft climate change plan to build confidence and to get the action that we need so as to meet the carbon budgets?

I am also thinking about regulators. We got feedback from auditors and regulators on what would look like a good climate change plan. This committee wrote in March summarising the responses that it had had; key issues were the level of detail on costs and the need for transparency. It is partly about ambition of policy, and about the detail of what will be in the climate change plan.

You said that you are having a lot of engagement and discussions. There is something about having confidence in the climate change plan and what will sit alongside it, so that people can see that action is actually going to happen. What feedback do you have on that?

Having listened to the evidence from experts this morning, we know that we need to act fast and decisively because carbon emissions are a massive issue around the globe. We will have major shifts in world climate; we are already seeing extreme weather, such as forest fires, which we have not talked about today but which could impact on peatland emissions; and we have 280,000 homes that are already at risk of flooding. We need more joined-up thinking and action; resilience and adaptation need to go together.

Another thing that we have not really talked about is how we will get the economic benefits of this in our communities across Scotland. We are still waiting for the energy strategy. We need a more detailed climate change plan and the investment that will transform our constituents’ lives and create the jobs, including local jobs, as well as the manufacturing and heat networks that could deliver lower bills, but we are not seeing the detail of that. We have talked about tree planting, for example. Where could we get more community benefits from tree planting?

There are lots of opportunities here. However, it is not about warm words; there must be a plan for action. We have climate and nature crises, and the Scottish Government needs to do more to bring people with us to make the transformation that we need, because it is sustainable development that will tackle what will be real challenges—the Gulf stream, for example, although we did not talk about that today. We might not be here in 30 years’ time, but the next generation will be, and it will be more than a challenge—there will be massive problems. This is a time for action, detail, information and bringing people with us, and the Scottish Government needs to do way more than it is doing at the moment.

Why have we not had a consultation on these changes? How is the Scottish Government engaging and ensuring that the feedback from key sectors and stakeholders is fed in, given, as you outlined in your initial comments, the quite significant changes that have been made in the past two years? Have any particular concerns been raised by smaller producers, local authorities or non-governmental organisations?

It is good to get that on the record, too.

How will the powers in the bill in relation to the environmental impact assessment interact with the proposals from the UK Government to move to a system of environmental outcomes reports, under powers that were introduced in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, and the proposals for new powers in relation to EIAs that are in the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill?

There was a big discussion previously about the money—I think that it was the best part of £1 billion—that the Welsh Government gave local authorities to improve their recycling processes. Will you give us a bit more information on the parallel discussion in Scotland? You mentioned local authorities’ kerbside collections. Some local authorities have lobbied the committee because they get an income from that. Is a discussion continuing about how we can use a mixture of the EPR regulations and the fact that glass is not included in the DRS requirements to improve those recycling processes?

Some constituents find it harder than others to take glass back, and having it picked up at the kerbside outside their homes is a lot easier for them. Will you talk about the income for local authorities and how we could make things work more effectively to increase the recycling rate for glass?

Can you give us any stats that show the differences between local authorities’ collection rates and income generation?