Chamber and committees

Electricity network policy and pricing is reserved to the UK Government. While we recognise that network charges in the north of Scotland, despite being reduced as a result of the Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme, remain higher than those in the south, we have not had any specific discussions about national network pricing. However, we remain closely engaged with the UK Government and industry regulator, Ofgem, on network charging issues – including, for example, Ofgem's Targeted Charging Review, where we have highlighted the importance of charging arrangements that support the continued development and connection of Scotland's vast renewable resources, including on the Scottish islands.

The UK Government also retains the relevant powers in respect of retail energy prices, but has repeatedly failed to provide the competitive and fair market which hard-pressed consumers deserve. We continue to call on UK Government to ensure that the energy market works fairly for all customers alongside short-term price protection.

The Scottish Government is working to secure a fair deal for all Scottish energy consumers. In Spring 2019, we will publish a plan that sets out how the Scottish Government, working with partners, will empower people to take advantage of opportunities created by changing markets, smart technologies and energy efficiency measures. The plan will specifically aim to protect the most vulnerable and disengaged people living in Scotland during the low carbon energy transition. We want to ensure that benefits are universal and socially inclusive, regardless of individual circumstance.

We also recognise the need to tackle fuel poverty and poor energy efficiency as means of promoting consumer interests. On 27 June this year, we published a draft Fuel Poverty Strategy, alongside the introduction of the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition & Strategy) (Scotland) Bill to Parliament. These took account of the Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force report, which examined the full range of issues around fuel poverty in rural areas, including national network charging proposals.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with QMS and other stakeholders regarding quality assurances and activities of programmes that encourage food chain efficiencies and promotion of the Scotch brands. Whilst these discussions will collectively help make a contribution to lowering emissions from red meat production, we have not had any specific discussions regarding the identification and promotion of low-emissions meat.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that Scotland’s children and young people are protected, safe and supported in the online world whilst being able to enjoy the internet.

Our National Action Plan on Internet Safety for Children and Young People , published in April 2017, sets out a range of action to help children and young people develop the necessary skills to stay safe while using the internet and support parents and carers to be more aware of the potential risks. This includes work with partners to encourage safe, responsible use of the internet including endorsing the 5Rights coalition which promotes the rights of children and young people online and in digital technologies.

To help support children online Curriculum for Excellence has been refreshed to include explicit expectations for learning and progression related to Digital Literacy. A key strand of this is Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety which covers topics such as using technology to communicate safely and securely; and developing an understanding of responsible digital behaviour. In addition, the ‘ Be Internet Legends’ curriculum, which has been developed by Parentzone in partnership with Google, is currently being rolled out at primary schools across Scotland. This programme provides resources for schools to support children to develop the skills they need to be safe and confident online.

Any decisions to legislate the regulation of the internet is currently reserved to the UK Parliament. The Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as they develop a new Internet Safety Strategy. This includes active participation and representation by Scottish Government officials on the Executive Board of the UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS ).

Inter-islands ferries within Orkney and Shetland are wholly the responsibility of the Local Authorities.

The Ferries Plan made an offer that the Scottish Government would assume responsibility for Local Authority ferry services, at no net detriment to the Scottish Government. It noted that ultimately a transfer may not go ahead as the Scottish Government cannot guarantee to be in a position to provide additional funding. This offer to consider a transfer remains under the same principles.

We understand the significant financial challenges that can fall on individual local authorities and remain committed to the principle of fair funding in the provision of ferry services and ferry infrastructure.

Discussions regarding internal ferries are on-going with the leaderships and officials of local authorities, including Orkney, Shetland and Argyll and Bute, as well as Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority. An update will be provided in due course.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recent report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and agrees with its assessment that all countries, as well as businesses and individuals, need to act now if the Paris Agreement goals are to be met. The Scottish Government introduced the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) Bill to Parliament on 23 May 2018 in order to raise the ambition of Scotland’s emission reduction targets so that they are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The target levels set out in the Bill follow the advice of our independent, statutory advisors, the UK Committee on Climate Change.

The IPCC report says that the world needs to be carbon-neutral, defined as net-zero emissions of CO2, by 2050, which is exactly where Scotland will be by 2050 under the targets set out in the Climate Change Bill. In response to the report, the Scottish Government, alongside the UK and Welsh Governments, has requested advice from the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on the implications of the report for our emissions reduction target levels. If the CCC advises that Scotland’s emission reduction targets can be even more ambitious than they previously advised, then we will act on that advice.

The advice was requested by the end of March 2019. This is set out in the request to Lord Deben, Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, on 15 October which can be read at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment
_data/file/748489/CCC_commission_for_Paris_Advice_-_Scot__UK.pdf .

The advice received from our independent, statutory advisors,
the UK Committee on Climate Change, in March 2017, provided
two options: 1 - Keep the target for a reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions of at least 80% by 2050 with subsequent reviews
to increase ambition; 2 - Set a ‘stretch’ target for a reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions of 90% by 2050, potentially
accompanied by a net-zero CO2 target for 2050. The advice
stated that “A net-zero target for all greenhouse gases should
not be set now, but the possibility to set one in the future should
be allowed in the new Bill”. Target levels of 56% emissions
reduction for 2020, 66% for 2030, and either 73% or 78% for
2040, depending on whether Ministers opted to maintain the
80% target for 2050 or raise it to 90%, were advised.

The Scottish Government considered the advice carefully,
including by discussing it with stakeholders, and conducting
internal analysis using the Scottish TIMES model, which
reached conclusions consistent with the CCC’s advice. We
then consulted on the proposal to raise the target levels to
be consistent with the Paris Agreement.

In light of responses to the consultation, the Scottish
Government considered how it would be possible to achieve
a 100% reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions prior to
there being a credible pathway to doing so. This analysis,
set out in “When to set a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions
target year: Information and Analysis to support discussion
of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets)
(Scotland) Bill”, concluded that Scotland would need to
compromise its existing framework in one or all of the following
ways:

• by paying other countries to reduce emissions on our
  behalf through the purchase of international carbon
  credits, instead of focussing purely on domestic effort
• by removing some sectors from the target
• by making legally binding commitments that are
  dependent on as yet undeveloped technological
  advancement and cannot be properly scrutinised
• by taking steps that would have a substantial detrimental
  impact on people’s wellbeing and the economic growth of
  Scotland.

Comparisons between Scotland’s target framework and that of
other jurisdictions was conducted internally, in direct liaison with
counterparts in other leading countries, and was supported by
work commissioned through ClimateXChange, reports of which
can be seen at https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/1325/
international_climate_change_target_frameworks.pdf

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/2964/greenhouse_
gas_accounting_for_national_climate_change_targets.pdf

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/3098/review-of-
comparison-of-international-climate-change-target-frameworks.pdf

The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that
has such an ambitious, comprehensive and stringent set of
statutory targets that must be met through domestic effort
alone, as are set out in the Climate Change (Emissions
Reduction Targets) Bill and therefore considers that the targets
set out in the Bill are world leading. The answer to S5W-19585
on 7 November provides further detail.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available
on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can
be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness
/28877.aspx .

It is imperative that the advice from the Committee on Climate Change is considered by the Scottish Parliament prior to the Bill being finalised. The Scottish Government is aiming for the Bill to complete its passage during this Parliamentary year, which is why we asked for the advice by March 2019, but we would not want the Bill to proceed without that advice.

The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill proposes targets to reduce actual emissions of all greenhouse gases by 56% by 2020, 66% by 2030 and 78% by 2040. The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that has statutory targets for all greenhouse gases as ambitious as these for the years outlined.

The Bill also proposes a target to reduce actual emissions of all greenhouse gases by 90% by 2050. That will mean achieving 100% reduction of carbon dioxide by the same date, which means that Scotland will be carbon-neutral.

In addition, the Bill proposes that annual targets are set mechanistically by calculating percentage figures that would create a “straight line” of targets between the 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050 targets. Annual targets mean that progress has to be immediate and constant. The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that has statutory annual emission reduction targets.

There are several other factors that make Scotland’s climate change targets world leading:

• all of the targets include all greenhouse gases.
• all of the targets include emissions from land use, land use change and forestry.
• all of the targets include a fair share of emissions from international aviation and shipping.
• none of the targets can be met through the use of international off-set credits, unless Ministers bring forward affirmative procedure secondary legislation, which the Parliament then approves. The proposal in the Bill is that a maximum of 20% of the year on year change to be accounted for by credit purchase. Based on current information, that limit means that less than 0.2 megatonnes per year can be accounted for in this way for any year from 2020 to 2050. (Sweden’s legislation allows for up to 15% of the overall target to be made up through credits. If Scotland followed this approach, come the 2040s more than 50 times the limit proposed in the Bill could be accounted for through credits.)

The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that has such an ambitious, comprehensive and stringent set of targets that must be met through domestic effort alone, and therefore considers that the targets set out in the Bill are world leading.

Climate change is a global challenge requiring co-ordinated action across all countries and jurisdictions. As a devolved nation, working in partnership with other national and sub-national Governments is of particular importance to Scotland in achieving high ambition.

The UK Government’s emission reduction targets are currently 34% for 2020 and 80% for 2050, excluding a fair share of international aviation and shipping. Without the full set of levers to implement all the policies necessary, Scotland could do more if the UK were to follow our lead and increase its long term targets. For example, the gas grid is controlled by the UK Government and it is not possible for the Scottish Government to unilaterally decarbonise the Scottish section of the grid. Similarly, both the UK Government and Scottish Ministers have roles to play in the regulatory frameworks which allow for the geological storage of carbon dioxide.

The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform has written to the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth encouraging the UK Government to work with us towards a net zero emissions reduction target. In response to the recent IPCC report, the Scottish Government joined the UK and Welsh Governments, in requesting advice from the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on the implications of the report for emissions reduction targets levels. It is important that the CCC consider UK and Scotland’s emission reduction targets as part of the same assessment, in order that the interactions between what is possible at a UK level and what is possible at a Scotland level can be fully considered.

The more countries that are working to reduce emissions, encouraging innovation and identifying low-carbon solutions, the more learning and knowledge can be shared, to the benefit of greater decarbonisation globally.