Chamber and committees

We have committed to updating the Climate Change Plan within 6 months of the Bill receiving Royal Assent and we are now looking across our whole range of responsibilities to make sure we continue with the policies that are working and increase action where necessary. This includes looking at resourcing across the piece.

There is a global climate emergency and the IPCC’s Special Report made clear that everyone, including public bodies need to act now if our targets are to be met. Public bodies have a key role in delivering on the increased ambition through their climate change duties. The Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Reporting mechanism provides a basis for tracking public sector action on climate change and driving continuous improvement. A review of the reporting duty is already underway in conjunction with public sector representatives. We are now looking across our whole range of responsibilities to make sure we continue with the policies that are working and increase action where necessary. Over the summer we will engage the public, communities, businesses, industry, and the public sector in a discussion about what more can be done.

The Scottish Government already has a track record of addressing climate change through it procurement activity. We are required to consider and act on opportunities to achieve environmental benefits in our contracts.

Our sustainable procurement tools, available to all public bodies, include indicators and guidance to support Scottish public sector buyers to consider and act on a number of climate change considerations, including carbon in production, carbon and energy consumption, climate change adaptation and vehicle emissions where they can be relevant to that particular procurement exercise.

Examples of where benefits are already being seen include the Scottish Government’s IT frameworks and stationery contract.

We are an internationally recognised leader in the field of procurement of sustainable IT products and ensure that only the most energy efficient devices are available via our Frameworks. These products also minimise environmental impact across their lifecycle as they are manufactured to conserve energy, minimise the use of environmentally sensitive materials, and increase recyclability. For example, over their lifetime, products purchased in 2017 will save 58,000,000 kWh of electricity and 9,400 metric tonnes of CO2.

The stationery contract has saved public bodies 75,000,000 kWh of electricity and 6,200 tonnes of CO2, and the public bodies’ carbon footprint has been reduced by over 5,700 tonnes.

We will continue to use procurement to encourage private and third sectors suppliers to make a positive contribution to addressing climate change. Due to the variety in value and nature of our procurements the best route for achieving a positive contribution to addressing climate change will be defined on a case by case basis.

Independent, expert advice from the Committee on Climate Change is an important element of the Scottish Government’s evidence-based response to the global climate emergency. We have embraced the Committee’s recent report on net-zero emissions, published 2 May, and acted immediately with amendments to our Climate Change Bill to set targets in line with the Committee’s recommendations.

The form of the relationship between the Committee on Climate Change and the Scottish Government is determined by the Committee’s statutory role, under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, as independent advisers to the Government. This role includes the Committee providing regular advice to Government on setting emissions reduction targets and publishing annual reports on Scotland’s progress towards these targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to ending the practice of sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill. Scotland has already met EU targets for reducing the amount of waste being sent to landfill and the recent Waste Markets Study demonstrates that significant progress has been made towards meeting the ban on biodegradable municipal waste (including food waste) by 2021. More than half of Scottish local authorities have long term or interim solutions in place.

In addition, a Food Waste Reduction Action Plan was published in April which sets out how Scotland can work towards achieving the target and reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill to support the ban. Household food waste alone accounts for 2,240,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent and this represents 2.9% of Scotland’s carbon footprint. Food waste sent to landfill is particularly problematic as it releases methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide.

ZWS are also delivering the Recycle for Scotland campaign to promote recycling with councils and other partners.

In April, the Scottish Government published a Food Waste Reduction Action Plan which sets out how Scotland can work towards achieving the target and reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill. The 33% reduction target includes both avoidable and unavoidable food waste, and covers all food waste generated in Scotland. This will support the introduction of the ban on biodegradable municipal waste being sent to landfill in 2021.

Other actions to support local authorities include Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) working with them to increase recycling and reduce customer confusion by encouraging adoption of the Scottish Household Recycling Charter and its associated code of practice, which is about moving towards more consistent services across the whole country. There are now 30 out of 32 councils signed up to the Charter and ZWS will continue to work with Councils on options appraisals and funding service changes.

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) is working with local authorities to increase recycling and reduce customer confusion by encouraging adoption of the Scottish Household Recycling Charter and its associated code of practice, which is about moving towards more consistent services across the whole country. There are now 30 out of 32 councils signed up to the Charter and ZWS will continue to work with Councils on options appraisals and funding service changes.

We will also continue to engage with local authorities through ZWS to provide assistance and expertise in helping Scottish councils achieve our ambitious waste management and recycling targets.

Scottish Natural Heritage is carefully reviewing developments on licensing in England. If it is concluded that General Licences in Scotland require revision, SNH has made public its intention to work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure there is an effective and proportionate approach in Scotland that complies fully with the law. In view of the legal challenge in England, SNH has decided to bring forward its consultation on General Licences planned for 2020 to this year.

The Missing Salmon Project is led by The Atlantic Salmon Trust (AST) and information is available at https://www.atlanticsalmontrust.org/themissingsalmonproject/. A Marine Scotland Science representative is a member of the Project Steering Committee. However, it is the responsibility of the AST (and its contractors) to analyse and communicate the results. Marine Scotland awaits the outcome of this interesting project with interest.