I refer to my entries on farming and renewables in the register of members’ interests.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this excellent debate, especially having had the privilege of being on the ECCLR Committee for some of the time that it was taking evidence on the issue. I pay tribute to the committee—its convener, its members and its clerks.
Back in 2018, when the committee began looking at the bill, I met various organisations, charities and individuals both in the committee and outside it, and they impressed on me the need to be radical and ambitious when legislating. It was clear back then and it remains clear today that decisive action is required, and I sincerely welcome the fact that, on climate change, there is a broad consensus across the Parliament on what is necessary. WWF Scotland is surely right to state:
“climate change is the biggest crisis facing the world, and Scotland must act urgently to meet this challenge”.
Although it is this Parliament’s role to set out the legislative framework and debate the extent to which we will go forwards in the struggle against the effects of climate change, we should also recognise those people across Scotland who are campaigning for climate change mitigation day in and day out. As the recent demonstrations involving young people have shown, there is an intergenerational passion for the issue. Those demonstrations and the one outside Parliament today remind us that we need to get this right not just for the current generation but for future generations, too. That point was made by Gillian Martin, Claudia Beamish and Angus MacDonald, among others.
Similarly, we must also bear in mind those on the ground far from this place who are already doing their bit to reduce their carbon footprints and particularly to cut emissions where possible. The wide variety of sectors across Scotland will ultimately need to adapt to any legislative changes that we initiate. Indeed, many sectors have already begun to adapt voluntarily. An example is housing, where businesses are looking at different ways to build more energy-efficient homes. Maurice Golden spoke about that. In particular, there is the Passivhaus movement, people from which I recently had the privilege of meeting in the Highlands.
In transport, bus companies are beginning to invest in green buses and are retrofitting existing vehicles to reduce carbon output. In Scotland’s food and drink sector, the Scotch Whisky Association has noted that the whisky industry is
“close to achieving zero waste to landfill”
and that
“In 2016 non-fossil fuels accounted for 21% of ... energy use, up from 3% in 2008.”
Many representative bodies across Scotland acknowledge the need to take action now. Particularly notable are the words of CBI Scotland, which says that it supports the
“increased ambition to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions”,
because in that way
“we protect the economy, society and the environment”.
It is clear that there is broad recognition across society that action is needed, and that many are doing all that they can to enact such change.
Others have spoken about agriculture, and I will dwell on that for a moment. Scottish agriculture has recognised that it faces a challenge to reduce its carbon output, but it is clear from my conversations with farmers and crofters that the sector not only prides itself on its existing stewardship of land but is positive about making further changes in the way that it works and operates in order to cut emissions, whether that involves investing in new machinery to improve efficiency, planting new hedgerows and trees to sequestrate emissions or investing in new feeds to reduce methane output.
The ECCLR Committee’s report notes that Lord Deben said that
“credit and gratitude should be afforded to the farming community”
for the work that it has done so far. Much of that work has been carried out voluntarily by farmers and crofters for years or even decades. In pursuing the aims and ambitions of the bill, we must ensure that we do not overburden the livestock sector, which has enough struggles already with unnecessary regulation and impossible targets.
NFU Scotland has said that climate change is “critically important”. It believes that
“we will achieve much better outcomes in the long run if people are encouraged to tackle emissions rather than be forced to through the use of regulation”,
and that, if farmers are able to take a voluntary approach, it
“potentially also enhances their business”.
According to the Scottish Government’s climate change plan, the agriculture and related land use sector has seen a 25.8 per cent fall in emissions between 1990 and 2015, because of, for example, sustained efficiency improvements in farming and better fertiliser management. That is positive and it further highlights the actions that our farmers and crofters are taking to manage land more sustainably.
Representatives of the sector have raised concerns about how carbon capture calculations are made. The vice president of the NFUS questioned whether
“carbon capture calculations properly identify what is being sequestrated by our hills, uplands and peatlands and fairly balance that against emissions from the livestock grazing”.
If it does not, that sequestration should be promoted.
I acknowledge Mark Ruskell’s work on the committee on the measurement of on-farm activity. We will all be aware of farms, such as Kirkton and Auchtertyre farms near Crianlarich, that have been researching how different breeds of sheep are better adapted to changing climate in Scotland’s upland hills. Langtonlees farm in the Borders has sought to install new turbines to exploit the fact that it faces a westerly wind, and it has invested in a slatted shed, which has meant a reduction in the amount of tractor fuel that is required to bale, gather and haul straw back to the farm. Those are just some real-life examples of how our farmers are rising to the challenge of reducing carbon output.
I will turn briefly to another point that others have made: how the changes that we make can help some of the poorest countries around the world. Many countries face the brunt of the devastating impacts of climate change and it is not only our duty to make changes, but a moral responsibility. Neil Findlay was absolutely correct when he said that it is an issue of international solidarity and the effects of climate change on the poor. Those who suffer most will be those who are least able to bear it.
Last month, with other members, I had the pleasure of taking part in the launch of SCIAF’s wee box campaign. The funds that were raised from that and other activities that SCIAF run all year round help to support projects such as the climate challenge programme Malawi, which supports communities that are affected by climate change.
The Scottish Conservatives support the bill at stage 1. We recognise the need to act and be ambitious, and we believe that actions to limit global warming should be focused on those that provide for jobs, innovation and investment in technology. Before we can set a net zero target date, an identifiable pathway to zero emissions needs to be outlined and the potential consequences understood. We must do all that we can to meet the calls from the IPCC to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and curb the devastating effects of climate change for future generations.