Chamber and committees

My second question is for Tracy Black first; Barry McCulloch can come in afterwards if he has any further remarks. Tracy, you talked about household products and the cost of doing things differently. You might have heard that we had a previous evidence session on the deposit return scheme and how important it could be for our net zero journey. One of the concerns that the committee heard about was DRS systems differing between Scotland and the rest of the UK. What does business think about those differing approaches and do you share those concerns?

That is really interesting.

I am grateful to the panel. Back to you, convener.

Good morning, minister. The regulations strike me as welcome but extraordinarily complex, so I want to ask a couple of things to clear them up in my mind. Section 8A(5) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 defines “nitrogen use efficiency” and you said that that means comparing what goes in with what comes out. Regulation 4 sets the baseline for that at 25 per cent. Will you explain what that means? What is that 25 per cent? What is going in precisely where and coming out precisely where, and why was 25 per cent felt to be the appropriate figure for the efficient use of nitrogen?

I put the same questions to Philip Revell.

I am grateful for that summary.

Earlier, the convener talked about funding and the need to leverage private finance. The Scottish Government proposes to deliver its heat in buildings strategy using £336 million this year and £1.8 billion by 2026. Will that be enough? As far as the witnesses are aware, is there a sufficient plan to leverage the £33 billion that will apparently be required?

That is helpful, minister, and I am grateful to you. I followed quite clearly what you said there, but I would not mind hearing from one of your officials as well.

I will be brief. I direct my question to Mark McRitchie, who I ask to give a brief answer if possible; the other witnesses can come in if they have something to add.

The heat in buildings strategy requires homes to have an energy performance certificate rating of C by 2033. The installation of new or replacement fossil fuel boilers will be phased out after 2025 for off-gas houses and from 2030 for on-gas houses. Are communities aware of those impending deadlines? Is sufficient support available to them to meet the deadlines? In any event, are communities aware of that support?

I am grateful for those answers. I think that what I am hearing, particularly in George Tarvit’s answer to the second part of my question, is that there is not yet a sufficient plan to leverage the £33 billion. On that note, in an earlier answer to the convener, John Wincott mentioned the Scottish green public sector estate decarbonisation scheme. Is that scheme sufficiently funded to decarbonise the public sector estate?