Chamber and committees

Yes, we can.

Thank you. I have quick questions for all of you. Professor Jafry, you mention in your submission the role of climate finance in Ghana. Will you expand on what is happening there and why it is of particular importance?

Mr Wilson, I do not think that the committee has looked at the report that you mentioned, but I believe that another climate or justice committee did. We will look into that, and see whether there was a response to the report and whether a committee did any work on it.

I have one question, which is about a phrase that you used. When you talked about what the Government was doing on climate targets, you said that it should be honest about what it had got wrong. Do we know what we got wrong? Is it about the general direction and whether we are moving the right way, or is it about other things?

Mr Wilson, you mentioned the soft power aspect. How is the Scottish Government promoting its stance on loss and damage? Which other countries are coming in behind that? What benefit is there in the Scottish Government being at COP29, and what influence could it have there?

Thank you for that.

I call Patrick Harvie.

That has exhausted our questions. I thank the witnesses for what has been an enjoyable session. I particularly thank Bridget Burns for getting up so early to join us online from New York. I thank everyone for their attendance.

Our second agenda item is an evidence session on climate justice, with a specific focus on the Scottish Government’s climate justice fund, in advance of the 29th United Nations climate change conference of the parties next month. We are joined by Professor Tahseen Jafry, who is director of the Mary Robinson centre for climate justice at Glasgow Caledonian University; Ben Wilson, who is director of public engagement for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund; and Bridget Burns, who is executive director of the Women’s Environment & Development Organization, who joins us stateside in the very early hours of the morning. Thank you for joining us, Bridget.

I will open with a couple of questions, and then we will move to questions from other members. What are your expectations of COP29? What should the Scottish Government prioritise in Baku?

We know that regularly funded organisations have a special place in culture funding in Scotland.

One of the other concerns that has been raised frequently is from organisations that have not met the criteria. With the review of Creative Scotland coming up, are the criteria for awarding grants being looked at? Will that be transparent to those who have the ambition to achieve multiyear funding?

Thank you very much, cabinet secretary, and thank you for that detailed opening statement.

Since Covid, the culture sector has experienced a particularly hard time, as has been evidenced in our previous sessions. I think that “perfect storm” was the phrase that was used a couple of years ago. What we are hearing from people is that there is a lack of confidence, with in-year budget changes, the closure of the open fund and so on all impacting on that. What are your priorities in the budget to increase confidence in the sector?

Thank you. We will now move to questions from committee members.