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Under the legal framework set by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 and agreed by the Scottish Parliament, a target outcome is determined at the time it is reported, which means that it is not possible to subsequently meet a previously missed emissions target.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with the UK Government to discuss areas of shared interest on climate change, including through the Net Zero, Energy and Climate Change Inter-Ministerial Group. Given the significant powers reserved to Westminster, including on energy infrastructure, taxation and borrowing powers, the Scottish Government intend to discuss further with the UK Government how we can ensure our plans aren't delayed as a result of UK Government decisions where shared action is needed to meet our future emissions targets.

Under section 36 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, the Scottish Government has a legal duty to produce a catch-up report with additional policies and proposals to compensate in future years for the excess emissions from any missed annual emissions targets. These have already been published for any previously missed targets. The 2020 target, which is the most recent to have been reported on, was met. We are one of only a very few countries to have such a rigorous statutory system which requires us to outperform on future targets when past targets are not met.

The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) makes clear that we encourage developers to offer community benefit and shared ownership opportunities as standard on all renewable energy projects.

As set out within the ESJTP, the Scottish Government is reviewing its Good Practice Principles for community benefits from offshore renewable energy developments.

As part of the development process, we are currently holding a series of stakeholder engagement sessions to raise awareness of the work and gather initial input, with a view to consulting on the draft guidance later this year.

We have offered £80 million from our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund to support the deployment of the Scottish Cluster. Due to delays with the UK Government awarding the Scottish Cluster, the offer of financial support was not required and we have re-profiled funding into subsequent years. We remain committed to supporting the Scottish Cluster and continue to urge to UK Government to commit to a concrete timeline and processes to ensure the Track 2 sequencing process commences in 2023.

While we can be confident that the Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics publication for 2021 will be published by early June 2023, we can not provide a precise date at this time. The reason being that the publication date is agreed by officials in the four Nations of the UK following initial quality assurance of the draft greenhouse gas inventory dataset.

The publication date will be pre-announced on the Scottish Government website during the month before publication.

Listed public bodies subject to climate change duties under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 are required to submit annual reports, including information on corporate carbon emissions and organisational emissions targets. The most recent analysis report was released in May 2022, based on data from reporting year 2020-21.

Emissions from heating, transport and electricity reduced by 5.8% in 2020-21 compared to the previous year, noting that at least part of this annual change will be attributable to the impact of pandemic response measures. Such emissions have decreased by 32.6% since mandatory reporting began for 2015-16.

Public bodies submitted reports for year 2021-22 in November 2022. Work to analyse these reports is underway and the annual summary analysis report is expected by the end of March 2022.

The Government looks at its entire capital programme on an on-going basis. This includes looking at phasing of, and the delivery arrangements for projects, including Ferguson Marine, in order to allocate resources accordingly to meet our commitments.

I represented the Scottish Government at the Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting, held in Rome in October 2022. The Minister travelled to and from Rome by train.

Scottish Government officials also in attendance were the Head of Open Government and a Private Secretary.

The total cost of attendance at the Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting was £5,332.55.

The Bioenergy Expert Panel is still to be assembled. However, in the meantime, interested stakeholders and expert parties can engage with policy officials. Stakeholders can get in touch via email: Stephen.Corrie@gov.scot

a) The Bioenergy Policy Working Group comprises Scottish Government officials from a number of policy areas.

• Agriculture Transformation for Environment and Climate Change
• Bioenergy
• Biodiversity
• Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS)
• Critical Energy Infrastructure & Commercial Projects
• Domestic Climate Change
• Environmental Protection - Air Quality
• Environmental Quality and Circular Economy
• Heat Strategy
• Hydrogen
• Industrial Decarbonisation
• Industrial Strategy and Technologies
• Just Transition
• Land Use Strategy
• Land Use Transformation
• Natural Capital and Land Management
• Office of the Chief Economic Adviser (OCEA)
• Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS)
• Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)
• Scottish Forestry
• Sustainable Aviation
• Transport - Supply Chains and Alternative Fuels
• Whole Energy System

Minutes from the meetings will be published as soon as practical. However the group are still in the process of developing policy and considering options.

b) The Bioenergy Expert Panel has still to be assembled, and we are currently reviewing when and how it will be established.