Chamber and committees

Yes—absolutely. I very much recognise Liam McArthur’s concern about this issue as the constituency member for island communities. He has written to me and lodged a number of questions on it. I have sought to make it clear in my answers to him that we want to give the right support in the right places. We recognise the distinct challenges that remote, rural and island communities face, and we are making sure that, even as we move away from some of the worst and most polluting fossil fuel heating systems, we are making available in all those communities the right renewable, zero-carbon heating systems and energy efficiency measures. I will continue to engage with Liam McArthur if he wants to continue writing to me. I hope that he is aware that we are making those offers available to people in his constituency and elsewhere in Scotland.

I have already set out the doubling of the funding that we will give to the public sector to engage in this agenda. I come back to the answer that I gave earlier about the national public energy agency, because, as well as supporting community organisations, it will have a critical role in building skills and capacity at local government level. Councils around Scotland want to be part of the agenda and want to show that it can work for their communities. I put out a call to members across the chamber and all political parties to work with the Scottish Government—if there are opportunities in their constituencies and regions that they think we need to be aware of and should be working with them and their local authorities on, we would be very happy to hear from them.

In relation to the first question, at least £1.8 billion is the total commitment over the course of this parliamentary session; I hope that that is clear.

As I have referenced to other members, we need to recognise that the strategy is by no means the end of the story. If we are to commit to a programme of work that is as transformational as it needs to be to reach the targets that we have all voted for, it will have to be a substantial, multidecade programme of work. It would be absurd for any Government minister to stand here in 2021 and say that we know exactly what will happen right through to 2045. The strategy for this parliamentary session lays a strong foundation for beginning that work. Of course all the funding will not need to come from the Barnett formula, because we will be independent well before 2045.

Today, we publish Scotland’s heat in buildings strategy and, with it, we mark a significant step towards bringing to an end the contribution that heating our homes and buildings makes to climate change. The ambition that is set out in the strategy is significant, and rightly so on the eve of the 26th UN climate change conference of the parties—COP26—in Glasgow. Urgent action is needed if we are to stand a chance of limiting warming to under 1.5°C.

The strategy presents a pathway towards decarbonising our homes and non-domestic buildings in line with our statutory climate change commitments, which all parties united behind when the Parliament passed the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019. It sets out the Government’s vision that our homes and buildings will be cleaner, greener and easier to heat by 2045. That means improving energy efficiency standards and replacing fossil fuel heating systems with zero emissions ones.

The strategy sets a clear and overarching objective that, by 2030, greenhouse gas emissions from homes and buildings must be 68 per cent lower than they were in 2020. That will require more than a million homes and the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings to convert to zero emissions heat this decade. It is a huge transition that will affect communities, businesses and households all across Scotland.

To pave the way, it is essential that homes and buildings achieve a good standard of energy efficiency. By 2030, we want to see a large majority of homes achieving a level of energy efficiency that is at least equivalent to an energy performance certificate C, with all homes meeting that standard by 2033 where that is feasible and cost effective. That will ensure that future energy costs are affordable, and that we continue to remove poor energy efficiency as a driver of fuel poverty.

As we address the damaging climate change impact of heating with unabated fossil fuels, we must do so in a way that supports our efforts to tackle social inequality. We must deliver a just transition. The strategy therefore sets out the guiding principles that will ensure that our actions to decarbonise heat do not have a detrimental impact on rates of fuel poverty.

We recognise that there are challenges. Many zero-emissions heating systems are currently more costly to install and can be more expensive to run than fossil fuel alternatives. Just as we have seen with renewable electricity, however, costs are coming down rapidly and they will continue to do so, but we need to work together across sectors and jurisdictions to overcome barriers and build momentum. We will provide support to help people to switch to zero-emissions heating, reducing household costs, improving homes and helping to tackle the climate emergency.

The strategy that we publish today builds on the draft that was published in February. I was pleased that the draft received so many supportive responses, and to see the breadth of stakeholders who welcomed the scale and pace of ambition that it set out. The final strategy reflects much of the insight that was generated through the consultation, as well as the additional actions that have been agreed as part of the Scottish Government’s agreement with the Scottish Green Party.

As we undertake the heat transition, we know that there will be more issues to resolve and we are committed to doing so collaboratively, drawing on the best knowledge and ideas from across society. Today’s strategy sets a clear direction for the heat transition, but it also acknowledges that no one has all the answers at this stage. The strategy lays a firm foundation for on-going work, including through the refreshed energy strategy and energy just transition plan that will be published next year, and the fuel poverty strategy that will be published later this year.

Over this session of Parliament, we will invest at least £1.8 billion in heat and energy efficiency projects across Scotland. As well as helping to meet our targets, that will provide a much-needed stimulus to the heat and energy efficiency sector and the broader construction and home maintenance and improvement industries, thereby contributing to a green economic recovery for Scotland.

I am pleased to announce that we are doubling the social housing net zero heat fund to at least £200 million. That capital funding will support decarbonisation of social housing, and it illustrates our on-going commitment to working with the sector. We are also more than doubling the funding that is allocated to improving public sector buildings such as schools and hospitals to at least £200 million, which will enable the public sector estate to showcase zero-emissions buildings. In addition, we have committed to investing at least £400 million over the parliamentary session in large-scale heat and energy efficiency projects, including zero carbon heat networks and large-scale heat pumps.

Alongside that support, the strategy sets out further detail on how we will accelerate the transition more broadly. We estimate the total investment that will be required to transform homes and buildings across the country to be in excess of £33 billion. It is clear that that cost cannot be borne by Government alone. We are establishing a new green heat finance task force to identify innovative solutions to maximise private sector investment and find new ways to help to spread the up-front cost of making properties warmer, greener and more energy efficient.

Investment in the heat transition will generate significant opportunities for Scotland. We estimate that 16,400 jobs will be supported across the economy in 2030 from the deployment of zero-emissions heat. We will continue to flex our delivery programmes to support local jobs and create opportunities for young people. Over the next few months, we will co-produce with the sector a supply chain delivery plan to create new investment opportunities and support high-value local jobs.

We will also bring forward a framework of regulations that sets clear standards for property owners across all tenures and building types. That framework will provide the certainty and assurance to secure investment and give confidence to the supply chain.

Our regulatory framework will build on existing standards that are already in place and will require action on energy efficiency and zero-emissions heating. In 2025, we will introduce regulations that will require all homes to reach a good level of energy efficiency—EPC C or equivalent—for example, at point of sale or change of tenancy. All homes will have to reach that standard by the backstop date of 2033, with the private rented sector having an earlier backstop of 2028. That will support our commitment to phasing out the need to install fossil-fuel boilers in off-gas properties from 2025 and in on-gas areas from 2030, to the extent that devolved powers allow.

Public engagement will be critical. While technologies such as heat pumps and heat networks have long pedigrees in other European countries, they are unfamiliar to many of us. We will increase public engagement by building on our existing advice services and taking steps to raise awareness. To support that, we will establish a national public energy agency to provide leadership and harness the potential of scaled-up programmes to decarbonise heat. In addition, we are working with local government to put in place local heat and energy efficiency strategies for decarbonising homes and buildings for all parts of Scotland.

The heat transition is an unprecedented challenge that will directly touch the lives of virtually everyone in Scotland. Building owners and supply chains need to have confidence in the long-term pathway and the policies that underpin it. The scale of the challenge requires a cross-party approach. I have therefore invited party spokespeople to come together to discuss how we can work collectively to take forward our heat in buildings strategy, just as we acted collectively to set the climate change targets.

The strategy sets out an ambitious package of work and maximises the Scottish Government’s impact within the confines of the devolution settlement. However, we do not have all the powers that are necessary to deliver the transformational change that is required. We are therefore calling on the United Kingdom Government to take urgent action to support the just transition to decarbonised heating.

The delayed UK heat and buildings strategy must set out how the UK Government will use its regulatory and policy levers to incentivise rapid deployment of zero-emissions heat technologies. We urgently need a stronger commitment and a clearer action plan from the UK Government, including reforms to energy markets and decisions about the future of the gas grid. Recent volatility in global natural gas markets further underscores the urgency of action in reserved policy areas to maintain security of energy supplies and to support vulnerable customers.

This morning, I had the opportunity to visit a communal air source heat pump project in Springburn in Glasgow. The project, which is co-funded by North Glasgow Homes, the district heating loan fund and the Scottish Government’s low-carbon infrastructure transition programme, delivers zero-emissions heat to six high-rise social housing tower blocks. Not only will that significantly reduce emissions, but it will reduce heating costs for 600 homes by up to 60 per cent, improving tenants’ wellbeing by making their homes warmer and cheaper to heat.

We must get the transition right for every community. The heat in buildings strategy is the foundation for doing so; securing the necessary reduction in emissions from our buildings to respond to the global climate emergency, demonstrating tangible commitments to our international partners at COP26, creating economic opportunities in Scotland and improving the buildings in which we live, work and play.

I commend Scotland’s heat in buildings strategy to Parliament.

Absolutely; that is an example of the importance of delivering such flagship heat networks. The project is now commissioned and open, and we will be working closely with West Dunbartonshire Council to produce a lessons learned report that we will share widely to ensure that heat network projects such as that one can be replicated across Scotland.

Lessons from the delivery of such a project will help us to develop a successor programme to the low-carbon infrastructure transition programme and a refocused district heating loan fund that will seek to address the barriers to the delivery of heat networks and large-scale zero-emissions heating infrastructure projects.

Absolutely. The basic thrust of the question is really important. Tenants’ voices need to be not only heard but effective. We have begun work on gathering tenants’ views through partnership working with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. There are other examples around the country, including in Glasgow City Council, which is working to ensure that tenants’ voices are heard in its deliberations. I recently met Living Rent—one of the first stakeholder groups that I met when I took on this role. Living Rent has done extraordinary work to ensure that tenants’ voices are both heard and effective. I would be very happy to meet local groups in Dundee and elsewhere, and I would encourage the member to contact my office to arrange that.

There is a great deal to learn from neighbours in other European countries. A crucial part of our work on developing policies in this area—rent controls and the wider new deal for tenants—will be listening carefully to and learning from the experience of countries such as the Republic of Ireland, Sweden and Germany. That could include looking at the role of tenants unions, which are an important way of shifting power in the relationship between landlord and tenant. Tenants unions could play a much bigger role in that in Scotland. We are also working with academia to consider alternative approaches to rent control that could be considered in the Scottish context.

I thank the member for her interest.

I thank Mr Griffin for his question. I have to admit that I am a little disappointed by its tone, because, as I said, this is a huge challenge for us all and it is one that requires cross-party collaboration. I would have hoped that the Labour Party would welcome the idea that we are going to set out an ambitious way to achieve the agenda for all of Scotland.

Can I tell every home owner what the precise share of investment for every private home is going to be between now and 2045? Of course I cannot. What we are doing is committing to looking at a wide range of sources for the investment. It cannot all come from public funds. Even I might blanch at the idea if Mr Griffin came forward with a proposal for a £33 billion tax rise so that we could fund it all from public sources.

On the social housing issues that he mentions, I recently spoke at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations conference about the zero emissions social housing task force report. I note that there is a real positivity and, I think, an appetite across the sector to work with the Scottish Government to rise to the challenge. Many social housing providers know that reducing heating costs is one of the most effective ways that they can reduce not just fuel poverty but poverty more widely, because the saving does not get clawed back by the UK benefits system.

I really hope that Labour and all other political parties will respond positively to the invitation that I have put out for us to sit together and talk about how we take this forward, because it is going to work only if we are willing to work together between political parties, between levels of government and across the whole of society.

That is an important issue. Funding allocations for local authority-led, area-based schemes reflect need, and councils use the Scottish index of multiple deprivation to target areas with higher numbers of fuel-poor households. In our area-based schemes, the funding enables fuel-poor households who live in their own home to benefit from energy efficiency improvements, and over a third of those people are older people. We also continue to support people to convert their heating systems to zero-emissions ones, targeting that help—again—to those who are least able to pay. Our delivery schemes that target households in fuel poverty already take a zero-emissions, heat-first approach.

I am conscious of the time, Presiding Officer. There is a great deal more in the strategy that will help to answer Stuart McMillan’s question, but I will leave it at that.

Mr Kerr knows that I and members from a number of parties across the chamber have been pushing for action on this not for years but for decades. I hope that he is not suggesting that we should not have consulted on the draft strategy that was produced earlier this year. I hope that he recognises the value of consultation. The final version of the strategy is stronger and richer for having had constructive input from many stakeholders. I hope that Mr Kerr will welcome that.

The total cost of investment between now and our target date of 2045 is immense. I made that clear in my statement. The commitment that the Scottish Government makes during this session of Parliament will not be the end of the story. This is a multi-decade programme that we must all commit to. As my statement said, costs will be met not only from public funding but from a wide range of sources. I hope that Mr Kerr will engage constructively with our proposal for a finance task force to look at those challenges.

Colleagues who are responsible for other portfolios will address some of the issues affecting schools, colleges and universities. Those are important points. Many private sector companies and contractors that install conventional heating systems see big opportunities if we can give them the right support to access the work and take on more people to do the incredible job of addressing the climate change emergency, and if we make sure that all communities across Scotland can do so affordably.