Chamber and committees

Thanks.

In paragraph 21 of your submission, you suggest that there could be legal targets for the transportation and packaging of goods. Do you want to comment on that? Obviously, a huge amount of Scotland is rural and there has been a huge increase in packages being delivered since the pandemic. What would those targets look like? You suggest that there should be mandatory reporting of transport emissions. That would raise awareness, but how should the Government do that?

Thank you, minister. The reason for asking the question, convener, is that the issue is about how these new heat networks are supplied and the critical role played by local authorities not only in planning and leadership, as has been mentioned, but accountability. That is why I was keen to ask the question. Moreover, if this is done properly, it will result in income generation for local communities and low bills for people. The feedback that I have had from local authorities is that they are under massive financial pressure to take this forward, which brings us back to the £300 million fund. It will be very interesting to see how that will be spent.

That is useful. The bill process is on-going, and we are moving towards the amendment stage, so it would be useful for the committee to be kept updated on that issue.

Thank you.

I have two brief questions. The first follows up on the issue of renewables regeneration. Mark Ruskell talked about repowering onshore wind. There are massive opportunities for offshore wind, but we have had many of those opportunities for 20 years. How can we take a circular economy approach, reusing existing infrastructure and making it last longer? You talked about ScotWind. There are huge opportunities, but how do we actually deliver opportunities for green industry in Scotland? What are your thoughts about that actually happening, rather than being just a good opportunity?

That is useful feedback, because I have had feedback from the local authority side that there are worries about supply chains in terms of, for example, new vehicles that could be required. There is also an issue about accountability with regard to the benefit of having local authorities owning infrastructure as part of this process while also using private sector investment and expertise. It would be good for the committee to get feedback on what you think comes next on that, because it is a now issue.

That sounds good. We will keep our eyes open for that second element happening, because it is not only the new construction that is important, but the reuse of existing equipment. That would be exciting.

That was very interesting. My final question is about heat and power networks. You mentioned energy from waste. What about the potential for more community-oriented projects, given the infrastructure of water heat networks that Scottish Water has, and which are currently being developed by local authorities?

My second question concerns the local authority targets in the bill, which will mean a huge amount of new investment in things ranging from vehicles to infrastructure to waste processing. The SNIB is not allowed to invest in public bodies, but to what extent does the bill present us with an opportunity in terms of infrastructure investment, so that we are able to see that acceleration of projects, particularly when some local authorities are doing a mix of public and private investment, with the local authority providing part of the investment and working closely with the private sector?