Chamber and committees

I started working on climate change and nature restoration in New York City in the 1990s. When I came back to live in Scotland, I was heartened, because I had arrived in a country where the people, through the Parliament and the Government of that time, had recognised the science-based evidence on climate change. It is good to hear the cabinet secretary recognise that in the chamber today, and I have heard it from colleagues across the chamber.

In 2019, the Parliament unanimously declared that there was a climate emergency. Doing so was supposed to lead to an increase in the roll-out of net zero policies, such as better buses, safer active travel and retrofitting our homes to make them warmer and cheaper to heat. Why, six years on and less than four years until 2030, am I hearing from countless people who know what is at stake that the urgent change that we need to see is not happening fast enough? I admit that we have done an incredible amount of work on energy, but there are other areas in which we need to move at a much more rapid pace.

We have heard from MSPs across the chamber—Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, Heather Anderson, David Barratt and Duncan Dunlop all talked about the wildfires and floods that demonstrate that we need to take critical action. I heard the cabinet secretary talk about this being the parliamentary session of action and the fact that we have a climate change plan. I sat on two committees in the previous session—the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee and the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee—that scrutinised the climate change plan, and we heard evidence from countless stakeholders that they did not feel confident that there was an adequate delivery plan in place.

This five-year parliamentary session is our last chance to get it right. We need bold climate change action. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s focus on that, but we have to bring about a secure transition that is just and fair, that delivers for the people of Scotland and that delivers greener, more affordable futures. Well-paid jobs in renewable energy have been talked about over the past five years—we need to see more work on that. We need accessible public transport—where is that happening on the ground? In my rural and island communities, it is sometimes really hard for people to even find a bus. We need the clean heating systems that our EU neighbours have enjoyed for decades. We also need a thriving natural environment, which will be the key in supporting us to adapt to climate change. Every sector of the economy and society will have to play its part. Critically, as has been stated by numerous colleagues this afternoon, we need to see rapid action in transport, in heat and buildings and in agriculture.

I will focus some more comments on agriculture, having just had a fantastic two days at the Royal Highland Show. We have the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 and the rural support plan, and we know that agriculture and land use play a vital role in the work that we need to do to bring down our emissions. The Scottish Greens campaigned on the idea of an agricultural transition insurance fund—we want to see £500 million of the agricultural budget put into it, because farmers need certainty. We are now in unknown territory when it comes to what we are doing in respect of our land use. We need to give farmers the certainty that if they take action, and it fails, they will still have support to take forward work on land use.

One thing that I noticed in the rural support plan, which I need to look at in more depth, is that it seems to indicate that food production is one thing and nature restoration is something else—two separate streams of activity.

However, I have met pioneering farmers who give me hope, because they recognise that there is a stacked function—the methods that they use to grow food will allow nature to regenerate. We must support farmers to move to nature-friendly, regenerative farming. Those pioneers have moved away from nitrogen use, they understand soil biology and they are choosing smaller herds and mob grazing.

We have legislated for regenerative agriculture, but we do not have the underpinning training. As I said to the minister in the previous parliamentary session, and as I will continue to say to him, we need a skills pipeline in regenerative agriculture so that we can bring new entrants into the system and support existing farmers to transition with confidence. The training must be farmer led and based on farm clusters. We cannot footer around with sporadic funding from the knowledge transfer and innovation fund; we need that pipeline.

I want to briefly mention an issue that is connected to what David Barratt said about a national emergency briefing. In January, the UK Government published its national security assessment on global biodiversity loss, which states:

“Collapse impairs an ecosystem’s ability to provide vital services including clean water, food production, and climate regulation.”

That is another blue light flashing quickly and brightly that shows that the Government should move even more swiftly.

When the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee considered the climate change plan in the previous parliamentary session, one thing gave me hope when I thought, “How the heck are we going to do this?” As well as the pioneering farmers, the other people who give me hope are the people in local government who have already rolled up their sleeves. They know what they need to do, but they need Government funding to bring about action at a local level. People throughout the public sector are ready to take action. They just need the Government to give them the funding to support them to take it.

17:17

Today, coastal communities and marine experts gathered outside the Parliament to demand urgent action to protect Scotland’s precious marine environment. Last year, the Scottish Government delayed a consultation on the implementation of management measures for marine protected areas and priority marine features. That capped off a decade of delays to protecting our seas from overfishing and environmental damage and to meeting legal obligations on achieving a good environmental status for our seas. Will the First Minister heed the calls from Scottish coastal communities and urgently consult on the introduction of protections to restore our marine environment and allow for greater local control?

Not to overegg it, but the Greens very constructively negotiated the £2 single bus fare cap pilot in a previous budget. It was an incredible example of constructive negotiations, and an example of how we will seek to work throughout this parliamentary session.

I am proud that the pilot was rolled out in the Highlands and Islands, which is the region that I represent. We know from data from April, provided by Highland Council, that the number of fare-paying passengers increased by 25 per cent during the first month. That is incredible. People are transforming the way that they move around at remarkable speed.

When I was out and about in March and April talking to people, the pilot was one of the things that they wanted to tell me about—and why not? The fare for travelling from Wick to Inverness went from £31 for a single to £2, and the fare from Inverness to Elgin went from £15 to £2. The pilot is incredible, radical and life-changing, and people in the region are embracing it.

I am delighted that the pilot was rolled out in the Highlands and Islands. The Greens have been calling for an island and rural community-first approach, so let us try things out there. I want us, during this parliamentary session, to try things out in our rural and island communities and not leave them as afterthoughts, as has so often been the case in the past.

Having solved the affordability issue in the Highlands and Islands, we are now looking to roll the pilot out across the rest of Scotland. However, as we have already heard in the debate, issues with reliability have not been solved. When the Government chooses to act on something, we get results. The problem, though, is that we might have cheap fares, but in some cases we have no, or infrequent, buses. If there is no bus, people cannot get to work, to hospital or to watch football. People need to feel confident about choosing to use the bus. When they are standing at the bus stop in the pouring rain, they need to know that the bus is going to show up.

We need changes to the system. We need to move away from the private cherry picking that leads to services being cancelled out of the blue, people being stranded and communities having to spend weeks and months fighting to get the service brought back. Even if it does return, it might be less frequent. Along with affordable buses, we need reliable buses. They matter, as they get people to work and create confidence.

We also have an incredible opportunity to reduce car dependency, as that will help meet our climate targets, an issue that we discussed at great length in the previous session. We need to stay on course to meet them.

Addressing this issue will require giving councils real powers of full franchising and municipal ownership. For a start, we must have a minimum service standard. Buses must be an essential part of our public infrastructure; as others have said, they must be a joined-up form of transport. Buses, ferries and trains must all be connected, so that people can start their journey on one mode of transport and work through other modes in order to arrive at their destination.

The Highlands and Islands pilot has been extraordinarily successful, and I welcome its roll-out to other parts of Scotland. It was good to hear the cabinet secretary say in his opening remarks that there will be work on service standards, potential ownership reviews and so on, but we absolutely need to see action on this matter in this parliamentary session. We must see results, and the Greens and I will certainly keep an eye on the issue over the coming months and years.

16:10

I welcome the cabinet secretary to her role, which brings together climate action and rural affairs.

The cabinet secretary mentioned the important role that our farmers and crofters must play in reducing emissions by increasing tree planting and peatland restoration. Today’s figures show that progress is being made, but it is only a starting point, and land managers need long-term certainty to plan their business activity. Will the cabinet secretary set out how large and small land managers across Scotland will be supported to scale up climate-friendly actions such as tree planting and peatland restoration?

My constituents in Tighnabruaich want to swim in and restore the sea on their doorstep, but a broken sewage system is making the water too toxic to enter. Will the minister agree to visit Tighnabruaich with me to see the situation for herself and to commit to closing Scotland’s sewage monitoring gap as a first step towards clean water legislation?

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the growing number of people swimming in Scotland’s waters and the United Kingdom Government bringing forward a Clean Water Bill, what consideration is being given to introducing equivalent legislation in Scotland. (S7O-00019)

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I pressed my button in error, so that can be disregarded.

I, Ariane Burgess, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law.

Nam bheachdsa, tha muinntir na h-Alba uachdarail. Tha mise Ariane Burgess, gu sòlaimte is fìrinneach a’ cur an cèill agus ag innse gum bi mi dìleas agus fìor umhail do A Mhòrachd An Rìgh Teàrlach, a oighreachan agus a thànaistean, a rèir an lagh.