Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Official Report 893KB pdf

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Climate Targets

The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S5M-02049, in the name of Maree Todd, on Scotland’s climate targets. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the contribution made by the recently-published report, The Energy of Scotland: Heating, moving and powering our lives from now to 2030, to the debate about the future of Scotland’s energy; understands that the report, which was prepared by WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB Scotland, is based on technical analysis by the leading global technical consultancy, Ricardo Energy and Environment; notes its findings suggesting that producing 50% of all of Scotland’s energy across heat, transport and electricity from renewables by 2030 is achievable and necessary; recognises what it sees as the progress to date in deploying renewables across the electricity sector; understands that these generate the equivalent of more than half of the country’s demand and have brought economic benefits, especially in the Highlands and Islands, and notes the views regarding the work that now needs to be done to support renewables in the heat and transport sectors, which, it understands, together account for more than three-quarters of Scotland’s total energy consumption.

17:09  

This is the first time that I have had the opportunity to lead a members’ business debate since being elected in May.

Climate change is one of the defining issues of our age. Although there may still be some doubters, the vast majority agree with the science. Just this morning, one of my staff texted me to say that it is the middle of December and it is 12 degrees in Shetland. I rest my case on climate change.

This subject is a priority for me and is vital to communities across the region that I represent. There are few nations that could claim to have embraced renewable energy with as much enthusiasm and success as Scotland. The Highlands and Islands, the area that I represent, is a rich source of renewable energy potential.

Our seas contain half of the United Kingdom’s tidal resource and a quarter of the tidal resource in Europe. They also contain about 10 per cent of Europe’s total wave resource. We have it all. We have plenty of wind all year round, onshore and off, and long days of sunlight on those few days when the wind might not be blowing.

Renewables are a major source of industrial work in the Highlands and help to sustain economic growth and employment. Scotland has the potential to be a world leader in this industry, and, because of the ambition and commitment of the Scottish Government, we are well on the way to being one. In the last decade alone, the total output of renewable electricity has more than doubled, and more than half of Scotland’s electricity needs now come from renewables.

The Highlands and Islands are home to a number of leading projects in renewable energy. In Orkney, the world’s largest tidal turbine—I always find that tricky to say—began trials in August, and in Shetland power was exported to the grid for the first time from a pair of tidal devices. The world’s largest tidal stream array project—MeyGen—is in the Pentland Firth. The Burradale wind farm in Shetland holds the world record for the highest capacity of a wind farm.

Making full use of our abundant natural resources will boost the region, but good stewardship will also be vital. We live in a stunningly beautiful part of the country with abundant wildlife, so we need to be careful to assess the impact of harnessing those assets. With care and good science, we can do that.

We all agree that a step change in our ability to generate low-carbon electricity is required, and large-scale projects like the Beatrice wind farm in the Moray Firth will generate jobs at Nigg and boost the economy, as well as contributing to that step change.

Make no mistake, the greatest threat to our wildlife is climate change. It is climate change that threatens our wildlife, not renewables projects, which is why the charities that commissioned the report “The Energy of Scotland: Heating, moving and powering our lives from now to 2030” are so supportive of renewable energy development.

Moving beyond renewable electricity, the Highlands and Islands have some exciting projects in heat generation and in energy storage. In Shetland, Star Renewable Energy is investing in renewable heat energy with loan funding from the Scottish Government. It is developing plans to add a large-scale, sea-water source heat pump which will help to expand an existing district heating network.

Thurso is home to the UK’s largest lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant—AGM Batteries. With other Scottish partners, it is creating the next generation of battery technologies for electric and hybrid vehicles.

In Orkney, a hydrogen project is using tidal and wind power to produce fuel for the local ferry fleet. In the first phase, a harbour-based fuel cell will provide overnight power to the inter-island ferries, replacing diesel generation.

Of course, fuel poverty is a significant issue in the Highlands and Islands. We have many organisations working on energy efficiency, including the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust, which has been working with Scottish Gas, advising people on energy efficiency. Improving energy efficiency and decarbonising energy is particularly challenging in rural areas. Given the scale of the problem of fuel poverty in my region, it is essential that no Government policy does anything to worsen the situation.

Scottish Renewables businesses are exporting their innovations globally, working in more than 40 countries around the world, in every continent except Antarctica, which is something that we all can be really proud of. An example of that, again from my own area, is the European Marine Energy Centre, based in Orkney. It has been called upon for development of a wave and tidal energy industry in Nagasaki in Japan. There is growing concern in the industry, however, that without enough support we will start to fall behind other world leaders. I recently spoke to Gareth Davies, the managing director of Aquatera, an Orkney-based company that has been involved in the creation of marine energy projects in the United States, Chile, Japan, Columbia, Peru and Indonesia. I quote him directly:

“Having seen the UK ‘give away’ its leadership and ownership of wind technology we said we would not repeat the same mistake again. Yet the UK is setting itself on a pathway to do just the same with marine energy. The UK has learned so much, achieved so much and benefited so much—yet Canada, France, South East Asia, Japan and China are set to reap the longer term benefits.

They say to make a mistake once is forgivable, to do the same again is stupidity!

Orkney companies have travelled to over 20 countries around the world in the last 9 months seeking out work and opportunities to keep their staff in Orkney employed into the future. This is a direct impact of the UK government’s failure to set a fair and reasonable CfD framework for marine energy and island wind.”

We cannot afford to give away our position of leadership in the marine energy industry.

I welcome the report, which is a really valuable contribution to the debate. I know that the Scottish Government is carrying out its own detailed research to assess how best to achieve carbon reduction targets at the lowest cost to the economy, and I look forward to the publication of the draft energy strategy and climate change plan in January. The Scottish Government’s record speaks for itself and I know that, under the First Minister’s leadership, ambition remains high. That is why we are already committed to introducing a new climate change bill with higher targets. Ambitious targets have helped to drive innovation in the past, and I want to see ambitious targets drive it into the future.

17:16  

I congratulate Maree Todd on securing the debate. Climate change is the great challenge of our times. It is a threat that affects us all, and it is a fight that requires a global response. I am proud that Scotland is playing her part: as ever, we are punching above our weight and we are seeing some progress for our efforts.

Emissions have reduced and are down by almost half since 1990, which has allowed Scotland’s annual target to be met for the first time, with significant progress having been made in the electricity and waste sectors. Alongside that reduction has been the Scottish renewables revolution: in 2014, low-carbon renewables accounted for almost 40 per cent of Scotland’s electricity, which was the highest percentage anywhere in the UK, and Scotland led the rest of Britain by producing almost a third of the UK’s renewable energy. Last year, the figures continued to improve, with more than half the electricity that Scotland consumed coming from renewables. That is to be welcomed.

Those successes should be recognised, but much more remains to be done. With 2020 fast approaching, it is only right that we lift our gaze towards 2030. Looking towards the next decade, there is much for Scotland to contend with in moving towards a low-carbon economy.

Transport emissions account for more than a quarter of all Scotland’s emissions, and the dial has barely moved since 1990 in reducing them. The good news is that the tools are there for us to use: urban consolidation hubs, electric vehicles, better public transport and cycle superhighways. We must get serious on transport emissions if we are to continue to meet our targets, to effect positive change and to see emissions fall further.

How we heat our homes is another issue that is hovering on the horizon. Heating consumed more than half of Scotland’s energy output in 2014, yet barely more than 5 per cent of heating consumption was met by renewables last year. It is not more warm words from all of us that we need to heat our homes, but efficient low-carbon heating networks. In that context, I acknowledge the pioneering work of Star Renewable Energy, which is based in Thornliebank in West Scotland, the region that I represent. Underpinning much of what must be done is the need to be more energy efficient. Simply put, the most environmentally friendly energy is the energy that is not used at all.

Our struggle against climate change will be made much easier by investment in upgrading our homes to at least an energy performance certificate C rating. That will also help the poorest people in our society to get out of fuel poverty.

Progress has been made, but the task is far from finished. We must continue to make the case to protect our environment, create opportunities for businesses and allow Scotland the chance to lead the rest of the United Kingdom. Let us make that case, let us look to 2030 and let us put our words into action.

17:20  

I thank Maree Todd for bringing the debate to Parliament. I also thank Ricardo Energy & Environment, WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB Scotland for their collaborative work on the report “The Energy of Scotland: heating, moving and powering our lives from now to 2030”. The report echoes Scottish Labour’s 2016 manifesto promise, which was

“to aspire to generate 50% of ... electricity, heat and transport demand from renewables by 2030.”

If we meet that target, we will be contributing robustly to meeting future climate change targets, and the report gives guidance on how to do so in a just and cost-optimal way.

Our trajectory suggests that there will be missed targets in the distant future—the policies are simply too timid and progress too slow in some sectors, including the heat sector.

I am passionate about democratic ownership as an energy model. I will focus on two examples from my region, after which I will look to Europe and then ask the minister a question at the end—if I get that far in the four minutes that I have. In the South Scotland region that the minister and I represent, Gala Water and Mill Lades Society Ltd in the Scottish Borders is in the early stages of restoring sites in the Victorian Galashiels water lades to generate electricity through low-head hydro technology. The project will deliver a wealth of benefits to the town, including opportunities for community shares, connecting the community with energy generation and reinvigorating a part of the town’s history. It could be a great trailblazer for investing in other lades using hydro power.

Another positive story from the community and renewable energy scheme can be found in Eskdalemuir. The Upper Eskdale Development Group Ltd is a community organisation that is working on regenerating the village primary school by installing high-quality insulation, air-source heat pumps and a solar photovoltaic installation kit. The CO₂ emissions savings over 15 years will be significant and the group will earn £2,500 a year. It is a win-win situation.

Last week, I attended a conference in Brussels focusing on a just transition to the low-carbon economy. Development of transferable skills and the pay and conditions of workers in the burgeoning renewables sector are part of that fair way forward. Another aspect of a just transition is fairness for communities. The Scottish Government and councils, including the City of Edinburgh Council, have supported community and co-operative ownership and involvement in sustainable energy through funding and advice. On the European mainland, that is sometimes termed “energy democracy.”

There are many different models of community involvement, some of which are more participatory than others. In Helsinki, the municipality has Finland’s largest solar power plant hosted on the roof of a ski hall—whatever that is. Local residents can

“order their own designated panels so that they can benefit from solar energy without having to make large investments.”

The Mayor of Pamplona City Council states:

“I believe that people and communities should have the right to control their energy future”

and argues for

“more social justice, and empowering people to be more than just passive consumers.”

Will the minister say in his closing remarks what research-gathering capacity the Scottish Government has to collect and analyse information from Europe and beyond as we develop our vision for an energy strategy that is as inclusive as possible?

17:24  

Presiding Officer, I wish you a happy birthday—it is always as well to get credit with the Presiding Officers; it is one of the rules in this place—and I thank Maree Todd for securing the debate.

I found myself agreeing with every word that Maurice Golden said in what was a very worthwhile contribution. In the light of that agreement, I gently encourage him and his Conservative colleagues to consider signing a motion from time to time, even if there is an SNP name on it. However, that is a political point that I do not want to stress.

The key point to make is that the report that is the subject of this evening’s debate makes many points that are critical to our economy, to renewable energy and—fundamentally—to climate change. Members will know of my personal engagement as the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change who took the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill through in 2009, which was a very challenging bill.

It is fair to acknowledge that an area that has already been the subject of debate—renewable heat—is one of the areas in which the challenge is greatest. Renewable heat is proving to be fundamentally more difficult to develop than we imagined in 2009 it would be. That does not mean that we should ignore it: on the contrary, it is the difficult things to which we must now turn our attention, but we will do so having had successes in other areas.

I accept that transport emissions remain a difficult area. I will tell members a little story about that. When I was minister, I went to a meeting of eco-congregations, which took place in a rural area and was attended by people from all over Scotland who were enthusiastic about making faith groups more ecologically friendly. I found ready ears for what I had to say, until I made the mistake of saying that, in transport, one of the things that people like me who live in rural areas might think about is co-ordinating with neighbours our visits to local towns to do our shopping. I can describe what happened only by saying that all Hades—I use the word carefully—broke loose, because it turned out that even among the most enthusiastic climate change adopters, that was for everyone else to do—not them. The big challenge lies with the people and in our persuading them to adopt new ways of working.

The UK has been doing reasonably well in the rankings, although it is going a bit backwards at the moment. Scotland accounts for one seven-hundredth of the world’s emissions and is widely recognised as being one of the leaders in tackling climate change—albeit that there are other areas of the world that are in certain respects doing better than we are. The leadership that we have displayed is being challenged by some of the UK Government’s policies on renewable energy.

However, I am hopeful, because there is economic benefit to be gained from addressing climate change. We create new jobs and reduce our long-term costs, because the raw material for renewable energy is, after all, all but free once we have made the capital investment. Those are areas that we can consider and in which we can, I hope, make progress. Scotland has engineering skills that we can leverage across from our oil and gas industry, in particular into new offshore renewable energy installations. First-mover advantage is still there for us to grasp.

I hope that the debate makes a useful contribution, just as the report that we are discussing and the work of WWF, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB Scotland have made excellent contributions on climate change. I look forward to listening to my colleagues’ speeches.

I wish you a happy birthday, once again, Presiding Officer.

17:28  

I associate myself with Stewart Stevenson’s celebratory remarks, although I am not going to sing “Happy Birthday” to the Presiding Officer in the chamber. Perhaps I will do it later. I declare an interest as a councillor on Stirling Council.

This is the second time in two weeks that we have debated the future direction of our energy policy and the importance of having an all-energy target that encompasses heat, transport and electricity. There is a lot to unpack in the debate ahead of the launch of the energy strategy and the revised climate programme early next year, so I thank Maree Todd for giving us some welcome extra space in which to do that.

I very much welcome the “Energy of Scotland” report that has been produced by the environmental non-governmental organisations. It reinforces separate work that was conducted by Scottish Renewables earlier this year, which also concluded that an all-energy target of 50 per cent by 2030 is a desirable yet achievable stretch target. Such a target would provide confidence and certainty, as our early targets on renewable electricity did for industry. Of course, targets on their own are not enough. I accept the point that was raised by the minister in last week’s debate that research surrounding implementation of such a target is required. I hope that, with the final touches being made to the energy strategy, we are nearing the end of that process, rather than stuck at the beginning. There is an element of chicken and egg to that. If a target is set, innovation, research and development will flow—provided that there are the right regulatory, planning and fiscal regimes to underpin it. If a target is not set, the direction of travel is too uncertain for investment.

We have a fantastic research base in Scotland. I pay tribute to SMRU Consulting in St Andrews, which has developed over many years a strong reputation globally for high-quality marine-mammal research. The work of organisations such as SMRU can unlock barriers to progress and allow ambitious targets to take off, especially within the marine sector, in which—as Maree Todd has already pointed out—it is vital that we do not lose the lead.

We should also recognise that innovation and research can take place at community level. Claudia Beamish mentioned excellent examples from South Scotland. There are great examples of innovative projects and approaches being developed over the past decade. I pay tribute to Fintry Development Trust in my region. Its trailblazing work on one of the first joint ventures between a wind farm developer and a community was a long and at times painful journey, but its success has inspired many other community renewables groups around Scotland.

Fintry has grown into a local energy system laboratory over the years, and has used the profits that are earned from the wind on the hill to reinvest in energy efficiency advice and renewable installations in the home. In fact, if members look at the weekly planning schedules for Stirling Council—as I do most weeks—there are fresh applications for air-source heat pumps and biomass boilers every week. Roll-out of those embedded renewables in homes and businesses has been phenomenal. It has now gone a lot further: it has piloted an electric car club, brought a biomass-fuelled district heating scheme to a residential caravan park, and developed one of the first schemes in the UK that will take electricity that has been produced by anaerobic digestion—at a small dairy farm—and sell it directly to consumers under a local tariff.

Grid constraints, financial constraints, fuel poverty and the need to build social capital in our communities can all be strong drivers towards the local energy systems of the future. I hope that the forthcoming energy strategy will recognise the potentially huge role of social enterprises in delivering much more than just heat and light to consumers. That point was raised by Claudia Beamish: we need energy democracy—energiewende, as they say in Germany.

How the utilities and Ofgem can learn from non-traditional business models will be important as we move towards a more decentralised and embedded energy system. We also need to consider how de-risking the development process for communities and allowing them greater access to assets including land can help them to get a foothold in the energy marketplace.

Ofgem has already visited Fintry on a number of occasions, so I conclude by inviting the minister to join me on a visit, when time allows it, to see the multiple joined-up approaches and benefits. There is also a community-owned pub.

17:33  

I begin by congratulating my colleague Maree Todd on bringing to the chamber her first members’ business debate, on the very important subject of Scotland’s climate change targets. Like colleagues, I welcome the report by WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB Scotland, and its motivating findings about the potential of our renewable energy resources.

As we all know, Scotland has been blessed with fantastic renewable energy potential. For example, it is home to around a quarter of Europe’s offshore wind resource. Not only that, we have made tremendous strides in harnessing it, establishing our nation as an international example—indeed an inspiration—when it comes to renewable energy. This year, for the first time ever on a single day, wind turbines in Scotland generated more electricity than we used in the whole of the nation. On the whole, Scotland now generates over half of its total electricity use from renewables—a 14 per cent increase on 2014—representing 26 per cent of the total UK renewable energy that was generated in 2015.

Neither is Scotland’s prowess in renewables limited to these shores; recent research has set out how our renewable energy expertise is in demand around the world, with Scottish businesses working in more than 40 countries and in every continent bar Antarctica. Windhoist, which is a crane company that is based in Irvine, in my constituency, has installed more than 4,800 wind turbines across the globe, from South Africa and Morocco to Australia and Belgium. We lead by example at home and share expertise abroad, and our renewable riches allow us to contribute to tackling climate change on a global scale.

In addition, our renewables industry provides a valuable source of economic strength and employment. We have heard that figures from the Office for National Statistics show that low-carbon industries and their supply chains in Scotland generated a turnover of almost £11 billion and supported 43,500 jobs in 2014.

My Cunninghame South constituency is home to the renewable energy specialist Prontoport, which supplies consultancy, engineering support and maintenance to wind farms across the UK. It consistently achieves turnover in excess of £2 million and employs 45 full-time staff. It also runs a world-class training academy in Irvine, which I recently had the pleasure of visiting. I saw first hand there its expert training provision in practice.

It is clear that great strides have been made, but our approach to capitalising on Scotland’s renewable energy must continue to be ambitious. The target to meet 100 per cent of our electricity needs from renewables by 2020 fits that bill, as does our shared resolve across most of the chamber to focus efforts on finding ways to convert our heat and transport energy supply to renewables energy over the years ahead.

The report’s suggestion that Scotland has the capacity to produce 50 per cent of all energy from renewables by 2030 is aspirational. We should always set our sights high, but ambition must be matched by due diligence—by careful consideration of any unintended drawbacks for our plans and ambitions in other areas, particularly in ensuring access to affordable energy and tackling the blight of fuel poverty. We recently debated that issue in the Parliament, and its severity was recognised across the chamber.

I support the comments by the Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy about the Government not setting any new targets until it has carried out the necessary research that will underpin them and considered the potential consequences that our climate change targets will have for other important areas. I welcome his indication that close consideration of the report will inform the development of future targets and look forward to reading the draft strategy early in the new year.

17:37  

I echo Mark Ruskell’s approach in adopting the same celebratory, if slightly obsequious, tone that Stewart Stevenson adopted in wishing you a happy birthday, Presiding Officer.

I congratulate Maree Todd on securing her inaugural members’ business debate and choosing the subject of Scotland’s climate targets for it. As she said, the subject is very much at the heart of what the Highlands and Islands region is all about. I also congratulate WWF and the other NGOs that were involved in the preparation of the report, which, as Mark Ruskell said, echoes some of the findings of the Scottish Renewables report earlier in the year.

The target of 50 per cent of energy from renewables by 2030 is achievable. I understand why the Scottish Government feels the need to go through the due diligence, but we are approaching the point at which it will need to show its hand, and I urge it to be ambitious in the area.

In the renewables debate last week, I was cut off in my prime, and an expectant public were denied the benefit of my peroration. I was also chastised in social media for not necessarily emphasising the job opportunities that arise from a commitment to renewables, particularly in relation to manufacturing and the export benefits that arise from that. I whole-heartedly accept that point.

I think that everyone accepts that there are job-creating opportunities from a more sustainable use of our resources. The Scottish Renewables report ahead of this debate points to those export opportunities, to the European Marine Energy Centre and its involvement in projects in Japan, and to Scottish Renewables’s ambassador, Gareth Davies, his team at Aquatera, and their involvement all over the world. In a sense, that is a reflection of the loss of activity and confidence that has arisen in recent times as a result of decisions that have been taken at the UK level. I certainly encourage the Scottish Government to step into the space and encourage innovation.

Stewart Stevenson was right to urge us to turn our attention to the difficult things, notably in heat and transport, where less progress has been made. The warm homes bill provides an opportunity for us to up our game on district heating and make good deficiencies in the private rented sector. However, as with not just the warm homes bill but the fuel poverty strategy and possibly even the climate change legislation, I reiterate my plea for a degree of flexibility in allowing local circumstances to be built into the solutions that are used to drive the achievement of the objectives that we set.

On transport, I note in passing, and again make a last-minute plea to the minister to roll back from, the commitment to reduce air passenger duty.

I will use the time left to make a specific plea in relation to electric vehicles. Orkney can lay claim to having the highest number of electric vehicles per head of population of anywhere in the country. The ownership of EVs is going up, largely because costs are coming down as a result of technological advances and wider uptake. A burgeoning second-hand market is also bringing down capital costs. The infrastructure is indeed more extensive than it was, although I think that more can be done. I give credit to the Orkney Renewable Energy Forum for what it has done to advise local authorities on the optimal siting of charge points.

However, it is to the issue of repair and maintenance that we have to urgently turn our attention. The infrastructure is in place, but it is of no use if it does not work. Too often we are finding that people turn up to the charge points only to find them out of order, sometimes for days and often for weeks. The problem is that councils, manufacturers and the operator, Charge Your Car, are all pointing the finger of blame at one another. Perhaps there is a cost-recovery mechanism that would allow the charge points to be kept more reliably in working condition. We would not accept it were a petrol station to be out of order for days or weeks, and we cannot afford that happening to electric vehicle charge points.

In conclusion, I think that we have done excellent work in the field of electricity. That is widely acknowledged, although we can do more. It is the areas of heat and transport that we need to focus our attention on. The Parliament’s role is to keep the Government’s feet to the fire on what I think is a shared ambition.

17:42  

Before I start, I remind the Parliament of my role as parliamentary liaison officer for the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work. I also thank Maree Todd for bringing this important debate to the Parliament.

As we have already recognised, Scotland has made tremendous progress in greening our energy supply over recent years. In 1996, only 8 per cent of our electricity supply came from renewables, whereas last year a total of 22GW hours, or 57 per cent, of that supply came from renewables. Scotland currently supplies 26 per cent of the UK’s renewable energy, which makes a significant contribution to the UK’s overall climate change targets. As has been identified, the renewables industry supports 43,500 jobs in Scotland and companies in the sector generate almost £11 billion in turnover.

Scotland makes good use of its significant natural renewable resources—onshore wind, offshore wind and pumped hydro—and is working to develop new technologies in wave and tidal power. We have a total installed capacity of 8GW, but there is the potential to deliver several times that number.

As a consequence, Scotland has exceeded its climate change commitments. We have reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the 1990 baseline levels of 77 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent to current levels of 46 million tonnes. Scotland’s performance has been recognised and applauded internationally.

The challenge to achieve 50 per cent of electricity from renewables has been exceeded. The next task—to reach 100 per cent of electricity from renewables—is within our sights. With a significant quantity of onshore and offshore wind generation consented and 1GW of pumped hydro capacity ready to go and waiting only on the UK Government to provide a route to market, we are well on our way to the next milestone.

Beyond that, the challenges to green the rest of our energy mix, in transport and in heat, are more difficult. Together those account for three quarters of our total energy demand. The report “Renewable energy in Scotland in 2030”, a joint effort from WWF Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and Ricardo Energy & Environment, gives us confidence in the paths to follow to meet that challenge.

The challenges ahead will require a number of technological, economic, cultural and political barriers to be overcome. The report makes a significant contribution to the debate around how best to proceed. It portrays a vision of what Scotland’s energy supply could look like by 2030. The growth in electricity generation from renewables will continue. By 2030, 140 per cent of Scotland’s electricity supply might come from renewables, enabling us to export that resource. Installing an additional 8GW of renewables capacity would support an extra 14,000 jobs. The cost of renewables generation continues to fall, as a result of economies of scale and technological advances.

Low-emission vehicles will become the norm, with the proliferation of electric vehicles for public and private transport. The drop in the use of petrol and diesel will deliver significant health benefits.

Heat provides the most challenging targets and the biggest prize. More than half the energy consumption in Scotland is generated by heat. The use of heat pump technology, such as the technology that has been developed, manufactured and exported by Star Renewable Energy, which Maurice Golden mentioned, will become the norm.

The heating of homes and businesses will be aided by an on-going programme of energy efficiency measures, which will drive a reduction in demand of 20 per cent. It is anticipated that 40 per cent of energy for heat could come from renewable sources by 2030.

All those aspects of energy policy will feed into the Scottish Government’s energy strategy, which will be closely aligned with the Government’s forthcoming climate change strategy and will point the way forward for renewable energy use and the boost to our economy that will come from Scotland becoming a leader in the design, manufacture and export of many renewable technologies.

We are all keen to hear from Mr Carson and the minister, but we are running out of time in the debate. I am minded to accept a motion without notice to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes—I point out that Mr Carson and the minister are not required to use the whole 30 minutes.

Motion moved,

That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes.—[Maree Todd]

Motion agreed to.

17:46  

I wish you many happy returns, Presiding Officer.

I congratulate Maree Todd on securing this afternoon’s debate, and I thank WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and the RSPB for their report, to which the motion refers.

Back in June 2009, this Parliament passed the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 with support from across the Parliament. The legislation was hailed as world leading and demonstrated the Scottish Parliament’s willingness to step up to the plate and show leadership by signing up to ambitious targets.

Will the member take an intervention?

I knew that I should not have allowed for such a long extension to the debate.

In light of Mr Carson’s remarks, I thought that it would be appropriate to recognise the leading role that our late friend Alex Johnstone played, from the Conservative benches, in the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill. [Applause.]

Well said, Mr Stevenson.

I appreciate that intervention and thank the member for it.

As we look forward, as the report that we are considering does, we see that there is still a lot more work to be done. As people said when the bill was going through the Parliament, the challenge would be not in passing the bill but in implementing it.

An area that the report focuses on is heat. The authors are right when they say:

“The renewal of Scotland’s heat infrastructure helps tackle fuel poverty by bringing down heating costs.”

Fuel poverty is a major issue, the effects of which are profound. At the moment, being in fuel poverty is defined as having to spend more than 10 per cent of one’s household income on fuel.

The Scottish Government aimed to eradicate fuel poverty by November 2016—last month. I commend the Government’s ambition, but it is likely that the target will not be met, just as targets were not met in 2015. Although there has been a welcome decline of 4 per cent, more than 30 per cent of households are still fuel poor and more than 8 per cent are living in extreme fuel poverty. Those figures should startle us all.

Although the causes of fuel poverty are varied and are not always under our control, we are not powerless to act. At the election back in May, the Scottish Conservatives pledged to introduce a clear target to achieve a transformative change in energy efficiency throughout Scotland, with all properties achieving an EPC rating of C or above by the end of the next decade, at the latest.

In Scotland today, a warm home should not be a luxury. People need help with making their homes warmer and advice on whether they can benefit from help with insulation and other efficiency measures. They can get such advice from the home energy Scotland hotline.

The report also focused on transport, which I will mention briefly. The authors say:

“Scotland’s low-carbon transport sector needs to move up a gear to hit future climate targets”.

According to the Scottish Government publication, “Scottish Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2014”, domestic transport accounted for 22.8 per cent of all emissions in that year.

The Committee on Climate Change suggests that there has been little progress in reducing emissions from transport, and I accept that much of that is due to improvements in vehicle efficiency being offset by increased demand for travel as the economy has grown and fuel prices have fallen. Once again, more needs to be done to correct that lack of progress.

There is much more to discuss when it comes to climate change, and I look forward to participating in other debates on this topic.

The Scottish Parliament passed world-leading legislation in 2009 and we all have a duty to do our bit to make sure that we meet the targets that it set out. As Liam McArthur said, research and development and innovation will play a large part in those efforts. The mix of energy sources—wind, hydro or whatever—will play a big part, too. I welcome the fact that Kite Power Systems at West Freugh in the south-west has secured an additional £5 million-worth of funding from Eon, Schlumberger and Shell Technology Ventures to develop its test and research facilities. It has already secured planning consent to develop a 500kW power station, and the additional funding will lead to multiple 500kW systems in the next three or four years, with a 3MW onshore system as well as an offshore system in the future.

As the WWF report states, there is no room for complacency on this subject. In order to achieve our targets, we will require bold policies, strong leadership and concerted action, and I look forward to being part of that.

17:51  

Happy birthday, Presiding Officer. I know that you have a strong interest in this subject area, so it is appropriate that you are here today.

As others have done, I congratulate Maree Todd on bringing forward an excellent and topical subject for her first members’ business debate. If her first speech opening a members’ business debate is anything to go by, we can look forward to her bringing good-quality debates to the chamber in future.

I am glad that we have heard so many valuable, thoughtful and positive contributions from across the chamber today. As Stewart Stevenson and others have said, such positive contributions from the Conservatives, too, are welcome. We have a real alliance in the chamber on renewables, which is positive.

As Mark Ruskell pointed out, we debated energy policy only last week, and it is good to have the subject in our minds as we move towards the production of draft energy strategy in the new year. Like others, I welcome the work of WWF, Friends of the Earth, the RSPB and Ricardo Energy & Environment, which makes a strong and valuable contribution to the debate around Scotland’s energy future. Our manifesto suggested that we would give the 50 per cent target careful consideration, and I promise that we are doing so. Members might not be surprised to learn that there is still a good bit of work to go on developing the draft strategy. I am sure that, given his previous role, Stewart Stevenson will understand that, in producing such a strategy, the last few weeks are often the most intensive, and we are working very hard on the delivery of the draft strategy.

I am grateful for the support of members across the chamber last week for our continued commitment to the renewable energy sector. Members have raised some valid points today, and I will touch on a few of them.

Claudia Beamish talked about energy democracy. That was an interesting contribution to the debate. She asked, reasonably, what we are doing to gather information from around the world. We have access to ClimateXChange, which is a consortium of Scottish universities that provides us with research support. It is monitoring the development of local and community energy projects around the world with regard to their social and economic benefits, and can draw on experience from outside the UK in doing so. We are also funding Friends of the Earth Scotland to link with people across Europe and promote experiences of community shared ownership. We are not blind to the fact that we can learn from good practice in the rest of the world and take it forward in our approach in Scotland.

Maurice Golden and Finlay Carson very reasonably talked about heat, which I will touch on later. It is an important area, because 54 per cent of our energy consumption is in the form of heat. They are right to highlight the importance of progress in that area, as well as in the area of transport. We accept that more needs to be done if we are to achieve our climate change targets beyond 2020.

I want to pay tribute to Stewart Stevenson—I do not have many opportunities to do so, but I want to do so today—as he was the minister who took the climate change legislation through Parliament. As his successor, I have been incredibly proud to be able to speak about the fact that that legislation was universally supported across the chamber. That is quite an achievement with regard to this important global challenge, and is unusual in a global context.

Mark Ruskell invited me to visit Fintry, and I would be more than happy to do so. I am very much aware of the good work that has been done by the Fintry Development Trust, and I am keen to see for myself exactly the impact that it is having. I was interested to hear about the embedded renewables technology that can be seen in the planning documents that are going through Stirling Council. That is useful to know.

Ruth Maguire spoke about important local businesses such as Windhoist and the work that it is doing across the globe to install turbines. I am keen to learn more about that business, as the more I learn about important local businesses that are involved in renewables in places such as Irvine, the better I can push the message to developers who are looking to invest in Scotland or indeed further afield.

Liam McArthur raised an important point about the condition of the technology that we have invested in with reference to implementation and strategy on EV roll-out. We will seek to find out more information about the condition of the equipment in Orkney and to see whether anything can be done.

To be clear, the infrastructure in Orkney tends to be reasonably well maintained. The problem often concerns routes such as the A9, which are used by people who are travelling long distances, who depend on there being a functioning rapid charger at the point where they need it.

I thank Liam McArthur for that clarification, which will be very helpful for fine-tuning the approach that I take. I highlight for the benefit of members our current review of “Switched on Scotland: A Road Map to the Widespread Adoption of Plug-in Vehicles”, which was developed jointly with industry. We can examine maintenance in the context of that review, so the timing is helpful in that respect.

As has been well documented, Scotland’s renewable energy industry is a UK success story and an area where Scotland has always shown great leadership. I welcome Maurice Golden’s acknowledgement of that. As members have said, Scotland met 57 per cent of its electricity needs from renewables in 2015. Ruth Maguire highlighted that, in 2014, the low-carbon and renewable energy economy supported 43,500 jobs in Scotland, accounting for 9.7 per cent of total UK employment in the sector. That is higher than our population share, but not high enough.

We need to tie in the focus on jobs with our emerging industrial policy and the manufacturing action plan to ensure that we capitalise on opportunities such as the roll-out of all the phases of the MeyGen project, which I and, I am sure, other members, wish to see. I would like us to work with Atlantis Resources to see whether there are opportunities for the manufacture of turbines in Scotland; indeed, there may be opportunities from other developments as they happen here, too.

As members have pointed out, £10.7 billion in turnover is a very significant contribution to our economy.

Last year saw the largest increase in renewable heat output since measurement began. I acknowledge the scale of the challenge for us in delivering on our targets, but we should welcome the progress that we have made in recent years. The level has gone up from 3.8 per cent in 2014 to 5.6 per cent in 2015, which is quite a large jump in the context of the challenge that we face.

As Ivan McKee stated, total Scottish renewable generation currently makes up approximately 26 per cent of total UK renewables. Renewable electricity projects are estimated to have displaced more than 13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide across the UK in 2015. It is clear that what was perhaps once regarded as a niche industry is now very much mainstream, and is providing highly valued jobs across the UK. Specifically in Scotland, we are keen for more to be done.

The Scottish Government’s targets, to which members have referred, are consistently supportive of renewable energy. Both our approaches—setting ambitious targets and providing consistent support—have been important factors in the success of the renewables industry in Scotland. We have made a clear statement of political will—not least in the chamber last week—in showing our support for the technology to which members have referred today.

WWF Scotland, Scottish Renewables and all the organisations that are calling for an increased level of ambition for renewables have recognised and welcomed the leadership and ambition that this Parliament—I acknowledge the Parliament’s role—and the Scottish Government have shown. That leadership will continue, along with the strongly collaborative approach to developing policies that will enable us to achieve our shared objective of making the most of Scotland’s renewables.

As we prepare our draft energy strategy, we seek to work closely with the RSPB, WWF, Friends of the Earth and specialists such as Ricardo, because there is much that we can agree on. We are making energy efficiency a very strong priority in our strategy document, as members will see in due course. We are putting a lot of weight behind Scotland’s energy efficiency programme, which is a co-ordinated programme to improve the energy efficiency of homes and buildings, not just in the domestic sector but in non-domestic stock.

I agree with Maurice Golden on the issue of low-carbon heat. I am conscious of time, so I will keep this brief. We have seen a large increase in the number of accreditations. As of the end of October 2016, there have been 10,703 renewable heat incentive accreditations in Scotland. That is a 21 per cent share of the UK-wide uptake, which is well above our pro-rata share and is very encouraging.

I will come to an end, as everyone is desperate to get away—they probably have Christmas parties to go to, as I know my colleagues do. I am currently leading the Government’s work on the draft energy strategy and I look forward to working with all members in the chamber who bring positivity to that challenge. I once more welcome the debate and thank Maree Todd for bringing it to the chamber. I thank all members for their very positive remarks, because together we can achieve great things for our renewables sector in Scotland.

Meeting closed at 18:00.