Chamber and committees

Part of the revised costings that Mr Tydeman provided to the committee earlier in the summer reflected that, but we need to wait until there is a full conclusion on what the MCA will accept for the final design, in order to get a full picture. You are right: many of the problems that we face are due to original design issues. If you have been around 801, convener, you will have had that pointed out to you, as I did. We are still living with that, and will do until the ferries are signed off and handed over. Obviously, we are looking to ensure that Ferguson Marine takes as much action as possible to mitigate as early as possible with 802, in learning from what has happened with 801, and to ensure that the impact on costs and delivery time is lessened. However, some of that will be unavoidable. That is why, as you would expect, my officials and I continue to engage weekly with Ferguson Marine and regularly at ministerial level to ensure that we deliver those ferries for our island communities as quickly as we can.

Decisions on new oil and gas licensing are for the UK Government. When there is an interest in that type of step change, I suggest that the most effective form of campaigning is to target where such decisions are taken.

We have been very clear, as I set out the last time that I was at the committee and as I set out whenever the media were at an event that I attended over the summer, that decisions on new oil and gas licensing are for the UK Government, but we want there to be much more transparent and stringent climate compatibility checkpoints. We are not opposed to any new oil and gas projects, but we feel that they should pass much more stringent climate compatibility checkpoints. With regard to the energy strategy and just transition plan, we will make clear our position, in response to the consultation responses, as quickly as we can. The language in the strategy and plan is clear on what we currently expect the UK Government to do in relation to new oil and gas projects, and we will clarify our position in response to the consultation responses in due course.

As I said, we have a responsibility right now to play our part in responding to the climate emergency, but we also have to make sure that there is a just transition. We have to take the workers who are currently involved in oil and gas with us, because shutting down the North Sea prematurely would not achieve a just transition. That would result in workers, skills and investment being lost, which would make it much more difficult for us to reach our net zero targets and to achieve our huge renewable energy potential. We must be very careful about ensuring that we take our climate responsibilities seriously but that we do not lose the skills, people and investment that the industry currently has.

We are not passive observers. We have made it very clear that we want much more transparent and stringent climate compatibility checks for new oil and gas projects, regardless of which application we are speaking about. We want to engage with the UK Government on that and to see that forthcoming, but it is its decision. Obviously, we attempt to engage on that basis to ensure that we see that just transition evidenced, and we will continue to make that case, as will elements of the industry. They want a much clearer and more transparent process, too. We will continue to work to try to achieve that with the UK Government.

I have made it very clear that we want much more stringent climate compatibility checkpoints for new oil and gas projects, regardless of which application we are talking about. I have made it very clear that we have to be very careful about picking one application or another without us—whether it is the Scottish Government or the UK Government—having the right strategy set out.

We know that we will rely on the oil and gas industry for some time to come. Its premature closure will put jobs at risk, and investment potential, knowledge and experience will go with it. We know that that will be critical. We must also make sure that we take our responsibilities relating to the current climate emergency seriously, which is why there must be a much faster just transition. We are working with the industry to try to push it to go as fast as it can in providing investment that supports new renewable energy generation and the skills transition. We are also looking to push the UK Government to ensure that it uses much more transparent and stringent climate compatibility checkpoints.

I know that the green heat finance task force continues to work on bringing forward its report. That work is on-going and is incredibly important because, as I set out in relation to energy generation and the infrastructure that we will require to ensure that we have decarbonisation of the heat network for building users, we will need to leverage private finance where we can. The green heat finance task force’s expert advice on where that might be possible will be really important. I very much look forward to that coming through to ensure that it informs our really important work on making sure that we decarbonise heat in homes and buildings.

We will keep that under review. Where there is a demand and we have a responsibility, we will look to meet that demand where we can. You will be aware of the very tight public finances that we are currently operating within. It is the most challenging public finance situation that has ever been seen by many of my colleagues who have been in government much longer than I have.

One of our key priorities is to reduce child poverty. We are ensuring that we are supporting that endeavour through initiatives such as you have outlined for those people who are facing what I think I described earlier as a grim winter, with household energy costs double what they were a few years ago. We will do what we can to help people to mitigate that. Again, however, this is an area of responsibility for UK ministers and Ofgem to regulate—not the specific interventions that you have spoken about but the energy costs that we are facing—so I would expect much greater action from them to ensure that households are protected this winter.

We all have a responsibility to play a part in that, all being leaders in the public discourse around what is going to be required. Obviously, Government has already taken many actions. We are supporting some of our stakeholders in the actions that they take, for instance with local government, and in the action that is going to be required. We touched on the transmission infrastructure and the understandable need for communities to have information and comfort around what that is going to mean for them—making sure that people have an understanding of why this is all going to be necessary.

There will be difficult things that mean that we all have to change our behaviours, and that will impact on all our lives. However, the challenge that we face is going to be even greater if we do not take this action. This summer we saw the major impact of climate change through the wildfires and extreme weather that hit parts of the world, including Hawaii, the Greek islands and parts of Scotland.

It is incumbent on us to ensure that we are taking our responsibility seriously but that we are also taking people with us and explaining that. As I say, it is a responsibility of the Government but also a responsibility of all of us. Some of the public debate—to be fair, mostly outside these walls and in other institutions—has not been helpful. I really fear that the public discourse that we get from elsewhere on the need for climate change or net zero measures, which are going to be uncomfortable for some people, is not helpful. We need much stronger leadership on the responsibilities that we all have and that we will pay for collectively, as a society, in order to achieve those targets, which are absolutely essential to meet.

I note the emphasis on the word “brief”, and I appreciate that. Thank you.

Good morning, colleagues, and thank you for inviting me to the committee this morning. As we all recognise, we are at a pivotal point in our energy transition. Although Scotland has made excellent strides along the path to net zero, there is still much to do. We need to realise our enormous renewables potential, including in hydrogen and offshore wind. We know that our electricity demand will increase as we increasingly decarbonise the economy, so, to achieve a net zero energy system that can support that wider decarbonisation, we need increasing amounts of clean energy generation and we need our electricity networks to be fit for the net zero future. We need significant investment in our electricity networks to reduce constraint costs and to ensure that green power is available where it is needed.

The United Kingdom appointed independent Electricity Networks Commissioner, Nick Winser, recently set out his recommendations on accelerating the delivery of network infrastructure, and we look forward to working with UK Government colleagues and wider stakeholders on considering and actioning those recommendations.

Since my last appearance in May, we have had welcome confirmation from the UK Government that Acorn is best placed to deliver track 2 CCUS objectives. It is very good news but, as of yet, the UK Government has not published any timescales or further details for the next steps of the project. That should happen as a matter of urgency. It is not just me or the Scottish Government saying that; it is an ask of industry. It is vital that the UK Government moves at pace on Acorn, not just to provide certainty for the industry but to ensure that the project can make a massive contribution to reducing our carbon emissions as quickly as possible. Recent events have demonstrated that we have no time to waste and that we must accelerate our transition to net zero while ensuring maximum economic benefits for Scotland.

I look forward to taking your questions, convener. I hope that that was pithy enough for you.

As I said, making sure that we take communities with us as far as we can is incredibly important. Where we have energy generation infrastructure going in, we have a very clear and high bar of expectation on community benefit. I am keen that we are as creative as we can be to make that community benefit go as far as possible, to make sure that there are economic development opportunities and the social infrastructure that potentially comes from that. I hope that we can get to a place soon where that is possible with transmission infrastructure as well, so that we ensure that demonstrable community benefit can be realised from those developments.

We also have to take into account the incredible economic opportunity that comes from the substantial investment in our grid infrastructure that will be required. A substantial number of jobs will be required to build the infrastructure, and, again, similar to the strategy that we are taking for our energy generation, we want to make sure that we have a supply chain based here in Scotland to ensure that there is maximum economic benefit.

To answer directly your question on whether we can ask industry to do more to provide as much information as early as possible, obviously we already do that. You are right to say that industry is pretty well aware of what will be required. Trying to get that more into the public consciousness and having a greater understanding of why that is required will be incredibly important. The majority of the infrastructure will be required to ensure that we realise our ScotWind potential and take the huge energy potential that is lying particularly off the north coast and move that down south. We need to make sure, as I said, that we take communities with us on that journey.

To give Mr Lumsden confidence, I am well aware of the need for more information, particularly for those in agriculture and food production. I had a round-table session in the south of Scotland, organised by South of Scotland Enterprise, as part of my summer tour. There is a keenness among those who work the land and who generate income from it to do the right thing. Some of them are already looking to decarbonise their operations and have taken big strides to do so. You are right that they are looking for information. I am well aware and cognisant of that, as is Mairi Gougeon. As Kersti Berge said, we will do what we can to provide as much information as we can as quickly as we can.