Chamber and committees

This has been a brief but spirited debate. I acknowledge the many considered speeches, but I must begin by addressing some of the claims that were made in the Conservative motion. There are basic facts that should frame any evidence-based debate on North Sea oil and gas—I believe that we are still living in days in which evidence-based debate is possible.

Before I move on to the wider issues that have been raised by the Conservative motion, I will pick up on an important point that Ben Macpherson made. He talked about the real economic and human impact of the Harbour Energy decision and, in particular, about whether the Scottish and UK Governments could do anything together. I am happy to confirm that the First Minister has responded in very positive terms to the suggestion from Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce that there should be a summit involving the Prime Minister and the First Minister. I hope that that can progress.

The North Sea basin is now geologically mature, and production is affected by that. As many members have said, the challenge and the opportunity are to ensure a just transition for the companies and individuals that are involved in the sector, particularly in the north-east, so that they will continue to play a role in our energy future, as well as helping individuals here and now.

I suspect that the member is coming to this point. Does he agree that, despite the many impassioned and sincere cases that have been and will be made today, one of the issues with the bill is that it does not specify the substances concerned, but leaves that to ministers?

Will the member give way?

Will the member take an intervention?

I am not going to pre-empt any decisions by the Scottish Government, but I will say that the member is right to point out that the same advice applies in both cases.

We want to support the scaling up of hydrogen projects, and we have taken steps to ensure that our planning and consenting regimes are responsive to the growing number of developments that are emerging across the country.

We have taken action to improve capacity and capability in our planning system to enable local planning authorities to respond to the growing number of hydrogen developments across Scotland. That point was picked up today by Sarah Boyack, Foysol Choudhury and others. We have sought to address that. In collaboration with the University of Strathclyde and the University of Aberdeen, we have developed a continuing personal development course that is entitled “An introduction to hydrogen for the public sector”. The course, which launched in July 2024, is targeted at local planning professionals. The modules that have been developed for the course are free to access via the Improvement Service website.

A planning hub for Scotland was established in September 2024 and is hosted by the Improvement Service. Its initial focus is to improve consenting speed for hydrogen developments. The hub is working to identify the pipeline for hydrogen projects and to gain an understanding of the operational barriers to their delivery. Comprehensive planning and consenting guidance for the development of hydrogen production facilities will be published this year.

By developing our domestic hydrogen sector, Scotland, in partnership with the UK Government and our European neighbours, can play a key role in meeting the growing global demand for low-carbon and renewable hydrogen technologies and the skills that will be required in the energy system of the future.

As Audrey Nicoll, Kevin Stewart and others pointed out, the wider situation would be greatly assisted if the UK Government could come to the right decision on Acorn. We have been taking steps to work out a way forward—a reality—by forming international agreements, building relationships and collaborating on research.

Scotland has very strong international relationships, most notably with the EU and individual member states such as Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. I have seen for myself the strong interest in Scotland’s hydrogen capacity that exists in those countries. As Maurice Golden and other members—

We have committed to investing more than £300 million in our heat in buildings programme in 2025-26. That funding will be spent on reducing emissions from heating and improving energy efficiency in homes and other buildings across Scotland, as well as on developing heat networks.

We will continue our successful warmer homes Scotland and area-based schemes, which are aimed at people in fuel poverty, as well as our generous Home Energy Scotland advice, grants, loans and funding for social homes. Householders who want to take action should contact Home Energy Scotland, which can help those who are interested to navigate the available support.

The balance that Ms Whitham mentions is crucial. Balancing the delivery of our net zero objectives with tackling fuel poverty is important, and there are significant opportunities to address those aims in tandem.

Through the investment that we are making, we can reduce poor energy efficiency, which is a driver of the fuel poverty that Ms Whitham described. Our schemes provide additional funding for households in rural areas in recognition of the additional and higher costs that they face. Last year, we amended planning rights to allow solar panels to be installed in properties in conservation areas without the need for a planning application, subject to specific restrictions.

The tone of today’s debate has been constructive. I think that it was Willie Rennie who urged us at one point to keep the tone of the debate cheery. We more or less achieved that, although I might disappoint Mr Rennie by telling him that, unfortunately, there are no salt caverns in Scotland, thanks to the geology that we have.

That is not pessimism; it is just data. However, Willie Rennie is right that there is a great deal to be positive about, and a great deal of room for consensus, in the debate about the hydrogen sector and how we need to help it to develop and grow.

As we have heard throughout today’s debate from speakers such as the cabinet secretary, Patrick Harvie and many others, developing Scotland’s hydrogen sector presents huge opportunities for Scotland. As the United Kingdom’s energy future and economic prosperity are important to all of us, I think that, although we have heard differences of opinion this afternoon, there is common ground on some of the issues.

There has been a surge in momentum on and enthusiasm for hydrogen. I have been able to see that in my role as chair of the Scottish hydrogen industry forum. The opportunities and technical challenges in hydrogen deployment are conveyed to me whenever I speak to companies that are active in the new sector.

Before going on to anything else, I want to address the issue of hydrogen and domestic heat, as it came up a fair bit in our discussions today, and I listened carefully to what the Greens had to say. At this stage in the debate, it is important to introduce a bit of perspective. The Scottish Government has supported the SGN hydrogen for heating project, which seeks to help us to understand the potential role of hydrogen in this area. It is important that we do that, and that, as we do so, we are mindful of the fact that one of our asks of the UK Government is about the price of electricity. That stems from our recognition that, in many circumstances, the priority is the electrification of heating in houses around the country. I hope that there is not quite as much disagreement about some of those things as has sometimes been the case today.

That issue came up at First Minister’s question time. It is important that we get zonal pricing right. The current wholesale electricity market in Great Britain is not fit for the delivery of our net zero ambitions. The Government and I recognise the trade-offs and complexities that exist in the debate on zonal pricing, and we continue our conversations with the United Kingdom Government to ensure that the voices of industry and community are heard in that debate. Any reforms or policy interventions from the UK Government must reduce costs for Scottish consumers and businesses while protecting investment.