Plenary, 09 Mar 2000

Meeting date: Thursday, March 9, 2000

Official Report 640KB pdf

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Climate Change

We move on to the statement by Sarah Boyack on climate change. There will be questions immediately after it. I am conscious that we have a heavy agenda this afternoon, so I will be strict about time for everybody.

I am pleased to announce the launch today of the Scottish Executive's consultation on a climate change programme. Copies of the consultation paper are available in the document supply centre.

Last month, in moving our motion on sustainable development, I stated that environmental policies are at the heart of everything that the Executive stands for. In launching this consultation on the Scottish climate change programme, we are demonstrating that commitment and moving the debate forward. The policies that we are proposing reflect sustainable development in action, and address concerns about the way in which we use natural resources, protect the environment, maintain and enhance economic growth and deliver social justice.

It is fitting that I should be making this statement today. I endorse Tony Blair's comments about the importance of the partnership that the United Kingdom government and the Scottish Executive have built. Our relationship with the European Union and the wider world is also important, and is the driver behind our work on climate change. John Prescott is today launching a consultation on a comprehensive and ambitious UK climate change programme. The development of that programme has benefited from our partnership approach. We are delighted to be part of the UK programme, as well as to be launching our own programme with distinct proposals for Scotland.

Before moving on to the detail of our programme, I will talk about the recent events in southern Africa. No one can have been unmoved by the images from Mozambique following the devastating floods. The worst flooding in living memory has caused hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deaths in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. A million homes have been destroyed and Mozambique's infrastructure has been devastated. It is predicted that it could take 20 years, or more, to recover from the damage that has been done.

This tragedy emphasises the human cost of extreme climatic events. Developing countries should not have to bear the consequences of the developed world's pollution. Few people in Scotland will associate flooding in Africa, or even flooding in Scotland, with emissions from their cars, factories or power stations, but we are all contributing to the climate change problem. We must all therefore play a part in its solution.

We cannot be certain that the African flooding was a direct result of climate change, but it is one more example of a growing number of extreme weather events, which scientists have predicted will occur more frequently if we do not act. We must act now and we must act decisively.

The threat of climate change was recognised some time ago. In response, voluntary agreements to stabilise emissions were made at Rio in 1992, but those have not been met. Most countries have had priorities other than keeping pledges on climate change. When Governments met in Kyoto in 1997, we moved from talking to action. We must, therefore, ratify the legally binding agreement that establishes the initial reduction targets for all industrialised countries.

I would like to emphasise "initial". Although Kyoto was an historic achievement, it was only a first step. There can be no doubt that we must do more in the future; but for now ratification is crucial. I am therefore delighted to inform Parliament that John Prescott has today called on our EU partners to ratify the Kyoto protocol at the 6th Conference of the Parties, which will take place in The Hague in November.

However, we should not see action only as an obligation. Our policy measures also offer opportunities: the opportunities to provide warmer, more comfortable homes; to develop new technologies; to create jobs; to provide a modern, integrated public transport system; and to make our industries and our homes more energy efficient.

What we do in Scotland to combat climate change is important. People know that already. In a survey undertaken by System Three for the Executive, 80 per cent of those surveyed thought that climate change was a serious issue. Along with air pollution, they rated it as the most serious issue for the environment in Scotland. Seventy five per cent of those surveyed thought that they should do more personally to protect the environment; but over half were unsure what changes they could make in their lifestyles to do so. This is, therefore, more about providing people with choices and more information than about having to convince them to change their attitudes. That must be good news.

There is also the issue of environmental protection and natural heritage. Biodiversity is affected by climate change and, in Scotland, the initial effects will not be positive, but the recommendations from the Scottish Biodiversity Group will be important in setting out action that we can take.

Our aim should be to protect our environment by tackling issues at home, which will in turn make a contribution globally.

At the end of last year, I published the results of a scoping study into the Scottish implications of climate change. It was a wide-ranging study, which identified some key issues for us. With our draft Scottish climate change programme, we are today taking forward a number of those issues.

The Scottish Executive is committed to working in partnership. I am keen that we engage the widest possible audience in the debate on the programme that we propose today. Our scoping study identified that information and discussion were crucial to success in meeting emission reduction targets.

Our consultation paper sets out a programme for meeting our commitment under the Kyoto protocol. It will also move us towards our domestic goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2010. That domestic goal is far more difficult than the target we agreed at Kyoto, but we are determined to drive forward emissions reductions and to make an ambitious and significant contribution.

In the time available today, I cannot cover all the measures in our draft programme. However, I can say that we have sought to address all the main points raised in the previous climate change consultation. I will therefore concentrate on two of the main sectors in which greenhouse gas emissions are significant for us in Scotland.

The first is transport. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport are significant. In our programme for government, the Executive set out a plan of action for the implementation of integrated and sustainable transport policies across Scotland.

We need to improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles using our roads. The European Commission's deal with the car industry will make a major contribution to meeting emissions reductions targets. Calculations by the European car industry show that fuel efficiency of 20 per cent can be achieved. In short, if consumers paid £350 more for their cars, they would save £1,000 on their fuel bills. That is a win-win situation.

But there is much more that we can do in Scotland. Tackling traffic congestion will help to improve fuel efficiency. It is estimated that fuel consumption on urban roads is at least 10 per cent higher than on rural roads and as much as 25 per cent higher in the centres of our largest cities, just because of congestion. Encouraging and promoting modal shift from the private car to public transport or to other forms of transport such as cycling and walking will also reduce emissions. Our integrated transport strategy is therefore central to addressing climate change.

Energy is another crucial sector in which we must reduce emissions. Ensuring secure, diverse and sustainable supplies of energy at competitive prices is, quite rightly, a key policy objective of government. This policy recognises the important environmental impact of energy production and its use. However, there is no question of our abandoning fossil fuels overnight. We need to factor in economic, resource management and social considerations, as well as environmental ones, when developing our response.

That said, our climate change targets clearly require us to take action in the energy sector. We can expect more stringent international targets for the commitment period after 2012. Meeting those may well require fundamental changes in the way in which we produce and use energy.

We have a programme for government commitment to develop renewable energy. Through this consultation exercise, I am seeking views on a Scottish contribution to the objective of delivering 10 per cent of GB electricity from renewables by 2010. If we meet that target, we will reduce our CO2 emissions by around 2 per cent, a significant contribution for a single sector.

In Scotland, with our extensive hydro schemes, and through the Scottish renewables obligation, we expect to be generating 12 per cent to 13 per cent of our electricity from renewables by 2003. If we increase this by a further 5 per cent—the same increase that is needed in the rest of the UK to meet a 10 per cent obligation—Scottish renewables would meet around 18 per cent of generation by 2010. Clearly, this is an area in which we in Scotland can make a difference—another win-win for Scotland. More renewables means more jobs as well as cleaner electricity.

I do not underestimate the environmental impact of renewable energy schemes. Although Scotland has some of the best sites in Europe for wind power, we also have areas of natural scenic beauty and sites that are set aside for wildlife protection. The quality of those sites and wind turbines do not always sit easily together.

The Executive was conscious of that tension, and our programme for government includes a review of planning guidance on renewable energy. New guidance will be introduced in the summer, which will provide for the planning system to take on a more enabling role in the development of renewable energy. I am sure that renewables developers will welcome that important initiative.

We also need to address attitudes towards wind farms. I want to consider people's actual experiences with wind farms, so that we can address their concerns in our new guidance.

In Rio the nations of the world said that we must act. In Berlin we said that we must act. In Kyoto we did act, and we reached agreement. In Buenos Aires we ensured that the momentum was continued and we agreed timetables for action.

Climate change will affect us all. We must face up to the real challenges before us. The challenge is to make the choices that make a difference. The political challenge is to ensure that the Kyoto protocol is ratified. That is what world leaders must do in The Hague later this year. It is why we must have a climate change programme—a programme that offers well thought out proposals for a robust response to the threat of climate change. That is why I am delighted to launch our consultation on a Scottish programme today.

Many members wish to ask questions, so if we have short, sharp exchanges, we will try to get everybody in.

The minister is right to impose obligations, but they need consequent resources—it cannot be all stick and no carrot.

Can the minister tell us what representations she has made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and whether she will seek to ensure that the climate change levy and any funds gathered from green certificate trading will, first, be hypothecated for environmental, and especially renewable energy, matters, and secondly, that Scotland will get her fair share of those hypothecated resources. If not, why not?

We are in discussions with the Treasury and with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Department of Trade and Industry on precisely that matter.

It is important to acknowledge that more resources will be coming through to enable us to develop our climate change programme. The climate change levy is a key issue, where we hope to get resources that will enable us to target how we can improve our response to climate change. One of the key questions in our climate change consultation concerns how best we should use those resources. Renewables is a key area in which we can take the debate forward.

John Prescott announced today a new round of energy efficiency performance standards, not just for the electricity companies but, significantly, for the gas companies. That will deliver more resources to enable us to tackle reducing the fuel bills of people who are on low incomes, in particular pensioners in low-income households. Major changes are taking place today, not just in Scotland but across the UK. It is important that we work together, as Kenny MacAskill suggested, to deliver real improvements for Scotland.

The Conservative party welcomes the initiative. We agree that the real problems that are emerging must be addressed and that this is an appropriate way in which to do that.

We listened to a debate on manufacturing this morning, when there was all-party agreement on the fundamental need for our Scottish industry to remain competitive. I want to ascertain that the minister will consult with her colleague the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on the proposed introduction of the climate change levy and any strategy for industrial and commercial waste, to ensure that business in Scotland is not placed at any greater disadvantage than business elsewhere in the UK.

I thank Annabel Goldie for her support for the broad principles of what we are addressing today on climate change. She is absolutely right: we must ensure that Scottish industry remains competitive. The point of having an integrated UK strategy is to enable us to do that. The discussions on the climate change levy affect industries throughout the UK. That is why we must have a common response.

Annabel Goldie mentioned commercial waste and industries' performance. I have been involved in extensive discussions on these issues with Henry McLeish, and our officials have had many discussions to ensure that industry is firmly on board.

The significance of John Prescott's announcement is that it is important that the UK does not just lead on its own. We want to ensure that other EU countries sign up to their obligations, so that the EU can be seen to lead the way. International action must be taken, so that we meet our environmental obligations and so that our industries have a fair level playing field with industries not only in Europe, but in the rest of the world.

From the Liberal Democrat benches, I welcome the minister's statement. She mentioned the modal shift and changes in transport. Does she accept that the Executive's policies on developing transport infrastructure must include measures towards stabilising and eventually reversing traffic growth if the objectives of the Scottish climate change programme are to be achieved?

Further, does the minister recognise that the use of liquid petroleum gas can be a particularly helpful measure, especially in the Highlands and Islands and rural areas, towards alleviating the high cost of fuel that is faced by people in those parts of Scotland?

Tavish Scott is absolutely right. We must ensure that we can tackle our transport emissions effectively. A key way of doing that is through our investment to enable local authorities to improve the range and quality of available public transport to let people make that modal shift.

Local authorities also have a major role through their local transport strategies, through which we can address at a local level the key issues of providing people with safer routes to school and alternatives to taking their cars into the city centres. The congestion measures that we are introducing in our legislation will be a key part of those strategies. Traffic growth is an important issue for us to tackle, and I thank Tavish Scott for his full support on that matter.

Tavish Scott's points on LPG are also important. In the Executive, we now have bi-fuelled vehicles that allow us not only to use low-lead petrol, but to have the opportunity of using LPG. There are important economic mechanisms to encourage firms, whether they have large or small fleets, to shift the type of fuel that they use in their vehicles.

I would also like to identify the opportunities presented by low-sulphur fuel. A range of technologies is available. I am keen for the Executive to work with the oil industry on that. Tavish Scott is right to point out the economic benefits to people in rural areas if that fuel were more readily accessible. Unleaded fuel provides us with a good example. It took some time for unleaded fuel to spread through rural areas, but it has happened. I am keen to ensure that other forms of more environmentally friendly fuel are also made available and at a lower cost.

I welcome the minister's statement and the consultation. Is she aware of the data held by the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, which goes back a hundred years and shows that the ocean temperatures north of the Faroe Islands are increasingly fluctuating? That could indicate a weakening of the Gulf stream, which undoubtedly controls the Scottish climate. If the Gulf stream fails, Scottish agriculture, tourism and several other things would be wiped out. Does she agree that that is a serious issue, which makes curbing carbon emissions extremely important, and that innovative transport policies must be supported?

I am well aware of the Marine Laboratory research to which the member refers. We know that climate change is happening. The Executive must set out a strategy to ensure that we contribute to the global effort to cut carbon emissions. We must also begin to think about adapting our current patterns of land use and economic development to the climate change that is already happening. We know that we are experiencing more severe climate events such as flooding, many of which are linked to climate change.

We must identify a programme to which businesses, local authorities and individuals can sign up so that they can see that they are making a practical difference. That will allow us to add up the reductions in emissions that we have made, so that we go beyond the tough targets that were set in Kyoto and we make a real contribution to the UK situation.

I thank the minister for her statement. I am particularly interested in the preventive measures that we can take to address climate change. What is the Executive doing to adapt to those changes that have already begun to happen?

One of the major issues that we must address is that of flooding. Several local authorities have applied to the Executive for help and I am pleased to say that we have identified resources to ensure that they can begin to address some of the flooding problems.

Work has also been done through the scoping study on climate change, which considers adaptation measures that can be taken by local authorities and businesses. The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 has come into force and local authorities are now preparing plans to improve energy efficiency.

There are many practical ways in which we can respond and adapt. I suggest that we improve our building regulations in Scotland to meet tougher standards of energy efficiency. That will go a long way towards tackling climate change and will also help to tackle fuel poverty.

In developing adaptation strategies, we must identify what makes sense in terms of our economic performance and our social justice objectives. We need a more joined-up approach. I hope that the questions that we have asked at the end of the consultation paper will enable businesses, local authorities and individuals to focus on the way in which they can contribute and how the Executive should respond to the challenge.

I am sure that the minister would agree that all relevant sectors of our economy should contribute to meeting the climate targets. Are there sector-by-sector targets for Scotland and, if not, how will ministers judge progress?

There are two areas for which Scotland has higher emissions than the rest of the UK. The first is land use. The land in Scotland has more carbon locked into it and we know that that is a problem, as it gives us a proportionally higher level of emissions. The second area is that of energy emissions. We know that, because of our fuel production, we did not have the dash for gas that England experienced, and so have a proportionally higher level of emissions. If we take those two areas out of the calculation, Scotland has per capita emissions that are similar to those of the rest of the UK.

We need to know what the different sectors are doing about emissions. Businesses have improved their record, which is partly because major companies have become more energy efficient, and partly because of economic restructuring. Our key task should be to identify where we can win in areas such as renewables and energy efficiency, and to identify where it makes economic sense for us to move.

We have to meet the overall UK targets. I am confident that we meet the 12.5 per cent target for emissions; the 20 per cent target is more rigorous. That is why I do not consider it appropriate for Scotland to have separate emissions targets for each sector. We need to monitor emissions, and to ensure that we make gains where there are major opportunities to do so.

Will the minister join me in commending the work of South Ayrshire Council and the South Ayrshire Energy Agency? In some senses, their work has been ahead of today's announcement in giving advice to existing businesses and new businesses that are setting up as to how best they can increase their energy efficiency. Would the minister care to comment further on what she sees as the role of local authorities in taking on such work in future?

As Cathy Jamieson suggests, when good work is done, it is important that it is commended and supported. We need to offer support for energy efficiency to small and medium enterprises. They do not have the level of research and development facilities that some of our big firms and companies have. I have discussed with Henry McLeish ways in which we can ensure that energy efficiency information is communicated effectively, especially to the small business sector, which needs to modernise and be more environmentally and energy efficient and which would derive major benefit from doing so. Local information is critical.

Local authorities can play a major role in providing information, in bringing together local businesses and in setting local objectives that can be met. In April, I will be meeting the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and individual local authorities to talk about how we can address climate change. We will have to discuss energy efficiency, local transport strategy and waste management. We have a common agenda, and I look forward to working in partnership with the local authorities.

The minister will know that methane is an especially powerful greenhouse gas. Will she contact the energy industry regulator to ask that public gas transporters have adequate resources to reduce, if not to rid the medium-pressure and low-pressure gas mains of leaks?

A key issue that we have discussed in Parliament during debates on waste strategy is methane that arises from landfill sites, but I am happy to take Mr Robson's point on board.

Will the Executive support further research and development into wave energy? Such research and development is in its infancy, but it has tremendous potential. In fact, Scotland has the potential to become a world leader in this area, especially in the Highlands and Islands, where we have great scope for developing wave energy. I believe that electricity companies, oil companies and oil fabrication yards might be interested in that.

I agree with Maureen Macmillan on the importance of research and development into new forms of renewables. Technology moves ahead all the time. We have to ensure that we do not miss the boat. Wave energy is an untapped opportunity for Scotland, and one that has been missed in the past. There are now major collaborations between academia and business to consider the economic opportunities. Last year, I was pleased to visit a research project involving the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde. They are getting to grips with what the major companies can do and with how we can manage our energy requirements. There are many opportunities there.

A major research programme is being carried out by the Department of Trade and Industry. We have an input to that. It is important that Scotland has a part to play in the programme and that the research that is carried out is disseminated across the United Kingdom.

The task of changing behaviour and attitudes seems to be immense. Will the minister comment on the way in which the education system and community organisations might help in that task?

Dr Jackson is absolutely correct that changing attitudes needs to be at the heart of what we are trying to achieve. There is clearly a role for schools or higher education to provide more information and to put the issue higher up the agenda.

I thank Sarah Boyack for her excellent statement. Will she join me in commending Fife Council's work on developing the only shoreline management plan in Scotland? That plan has highlighted the problems in areas where sea levels will rise and begin to reclaim the coastline. There are areas in Fife where the sea has reclaimed land with homes on it and the situation has now affected a local firm.

I would like to know whether the minister is encouraging other local authorities to take the same safeguards as Fife Council, because there is no doubt that climate change is happening and, unless we take the measures that Sarah Boyack has highlighted, we will see more and more of this problem. There is a real need for local authorities across Scotland to follow the example of Fife Council to make sure that the sea does not affect land, homes and jobs.

There was a question there, I think.

I have found it. I think that the question was about encouraging local authorities to do what is practical and appropriate in their areas. Authorities with major areas of low-lying land that meet the sea must address issues of long-term planning, identify adaptation measures and choose how to tackle potential rises in sea level.

As I said, it is critical for local authorities to identify what is appropriate in such areas to ensure that adaptation strategies link in with local circumstances. Affected local authorities should begin to consider this issue, because a "business as usual" attitude is not enough. We must think further into the future and begin to examine how we adapt to change.