Question reference: S6W-01302
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 7 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 July 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of its Budget has been allocated to projects designed to alleviate environmental problems that are not linked with climate change.
Answer
Government budgets achieve multiple overlapping objectives and so it is not possible to distinguish environmental spending that does and does not alleviate climate change. A wide range of Scottish Government budgets directly address environmental problems. In 2021-22 spending on Environmental Services is £196 million. A number of other budget lines also have a direct impact on environmental outcomes including, but not limited to, Rural Economy Agri Environment Measures (£34.2 million) and Green Schemes (£142 million), Forestry (£70.6 million), and Active Travel (£115 million) in 2021-22.
Taking a more expansive view of spending on environmental measures. The Scottish Government publication Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland provides estimates of overall spending by the Scottish Government, Local Authorities and Public Corporations on different categories of spend. It reports that these bodies spent £1,078 million on ‘environmental protection’ in 2019-20.