Question reference: S6W-05812
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 20 January 2022
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether infrastructure spending within its 2022-23 draft Budget and the Infrastructure Investment Plan will be informed by its guidance on active carbon management.
Answer
The Scottish Budget 2022-23 sets out almost £2 billion of low carbon capital investment in Scotland’s public infrastructure, including almost £350 million to drive forward our commitment to decarbonise the heating of 1 million homes and £124 million capital investment to support high quality active travel in walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure.
The Scottish Government currently uses a taxonomy approach to provide a summary carbon assessment of the annual Capital Budget. In total, 92.7 per cent of capital expenditure is categorised as either ‘Low’ or ‘Neutral’, an increase from 91.5 per cent in 2021-22 resulting in a reduction in the percentage of High carbon investment from 8.5 per cent to 7.3 per cent. These figures demonstrate early progress against the ambitions for low carbon investment as set out in the Infrastructure Investment Plan. We are also taking forward improvements to the methodology for Carbon Assessment of Capital Investment, as part of the Joint Budget Review