Meeting of the Parliament 07 May 2014
I certainly do not think that the uncertainty that has been created by the electricity market reform process undertaken by the UK Government has helped investors to make decisions about the offshore sector. However, we now have some clarity in that respect and, obviously, the Scottish Government is heavily engaged to ensure that we secure these opportunities.
Members will ask why the transition to the low-carbon economy is important. It is vital, because it is central to our efforts to tackle climate change. Scotland’s climate change legislation commits us to meet world-leading targets of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 42 per cent by 2020 and by 80 per cent by 2050. We are more than halfway towards meeting our 2020 target of a 42 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and the Committee on Climate Change recently reported that good progress has been made in Scotland in reducing emissions across the economy, and more specifically in energy. That is good news, but we recognise that we have to do more. Tougher decisions and major transformational changes still lie ahead, and everybody will need to be on board for Scotland’s transition to a low-carbon society, to enable us to achieve those objectives.
To date, we have strongly endorsed the robust regulation of any techniques associated with unconventional oil and gas, and we are pleased that our environmental regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, published guidance on shale gas and coal-bed methane in December 2012. The Scottish Government has consistently worked with the principal regulators to ensure that an appropriate and robust regulatory framework is in place. That is essential to protect our communities and environment, both now and for the future.