Chamber and committees

Good morning, panel. I will ask the same question that I asked earlier, putting two questions into one. I will direct it to Margaret Davidson first, and then to Simon Fieldhouse.

You both talked about resources and the funding. Depending on what you read, the Scottish Government draft budget cuts between £300 million and £400 million from council budgets. What are the implications of the draft budget for your council’s delivery of net zero ambitions? Given the significant increase in funding that is ring fenced, does your local authority have sufficient flexibility to deliver on its net zero ambitions?

I will put two questions together and direct them to Jenny Laing, Susan Aitken and Adam McVey in that order.

You have all made it clear that there is a great deal going on to realise net zero. Jenny Laing said at the start that that requires national co-ordination, support and finance. The Scottish Government draft budget cut—depending whose opinion you read—between £300 million and £400 million from council budgets. What are the implications of the draft budget for your council’s delivery of your net zero ambitions? Given that there has been a significant increase in the ring fencing of funding in the past eight years or so, does your local authority have sufficient flexibility in its budgets to invest in the transition?

Thank you. Would Adam McVey mind answering, as well? The question was about the implications of the draft budget for the council’s delivery of net zero ambitions, if that is a useful reminder.

Simon, do you have any comments?

I have one additional question. Jenny Laing mentioned the just transition from oil and gas as key to achieving net zero. You also mentioned the £20 million allocation from the just transition fund but you suggested that there is a lack of detail on that. Can you help the committee to understand how much engagement the Scottish Government has had with you on the just transition fund? When you say that there are no details, has the Scottish Government been engaging with you to find out what will work in the north-east and what the council can do to contribute to that just transition?

I will drive down into those answers. In your 2020 report, you provided 30 recommendations that were expected to be achieved by 2021, but only nine of them have been achieved. In relation to the recommendations that have not been achieved, such as those on buildings performance, sustainable diets and agriculture policy, and the ones that have been partly achieved, such as those on adaptations, training and skills, and active travel, where does your greatest concern lie? If transport, which has been mentioned, is the greatest concern, what do we need to do to get back on track?

I will drill down into a specific area. The Scottish Government recently published its catch-up report—“Report on proposals and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions following annual target for 2019 not being met”—in which it set out various proposals and policies to compensate for the excess emissions as a result of the missed target in 2019. Yesterday, I got a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport—I appreciate that you will not have seen it—in which he said:

“We are also confident that the additional policies included in our ... Catch-Up Report will more than exceed the 2.7Mt from the missed annual target”.

Does the catch-up report contain adequate policies to mitigate 2.7 metric tonnes of CO₂ equivalent? Even if the policies are there, will they deliver?

I am very grateful, convener. Good morning, gentlemen.

I will pick up on your progress report, in which you say, about the climate change plan update, that you

“have not been able to establish whether and how policies and proposals add up to the required emissions reductions.”

Does the Scottish Government now have the right tools and models to quantify how the policies that you have talked about

“add up to the required emissions reductions”?

I will be as brief as possible. I have two direct questions for Erik Dalhuijsen. First, Oil & Gas UK’s “Energy Transition Outlook 2021” reports that there is a total capacity to hold 78 billion tonnes of CO₂ under the North Sea and the Irish Sea. As I understand it, that is approximately 190 times greater than the UK’s annual emissions of 400 million tonnes. Even if we were to accept all the concerns that you have raised, given those figures, ought we to be not only exploring carbon capture, utilisation and storage but ramping it up, rather than holding back?

Thank you.