Hansard

Today I have found out two things—that rhetoric can be at different levels and that it can be both consensual and aggressive. The contrast between the morning and the afternoon has been interesting.

I welcome what the Minister for Transport and the Environment said and much of what Kenny MacAskill and Murray Tosh said—much of their rhetoric was important in setting the tone of how the Parliament will deal with this issue. The Liberal Democrats welcome the commitment to and continued support for sustainable development and stronger environmental policies that were secured in the partnership agreement. The Scottish Executive is doing more for the environment than previous Administrations have done, but we must not be complacent. The Conservative and SNP spokesmen have illustrated how much more we need to do. In terms of giving a push to what the Executive is doing, that is important.

The key requirements for the environment are strategic environmental assessment and freedom of information. Those issues underpin much of what has been said today, particularly Murray Tosh's request for the minutes of the ministerial working group.

It has been difficult to define sustainable development; indeed, it may be foolish even to begin to try. I share the view of Scottish Environment Link when it argues that sustainability is a concept that policy makers should understand rather than waste time in attempting to define. I know that Sylvia Jackson is conducting a study on behalf of the European Committee into the European Community's sixth environmental action plan. That is the sort of practical work that I think will help this Parliament's understanding of the area.

The question that we must pose is: "Is Scotland sustainable?" Before today's debate, I read the 1996 study carried out by Friends of the Earth and funded jointly by the Scottish Office. It estimated that Scotland would have to cut its use of non

renewable resources by 25 per cent within a decade. It suggested that we needed to address Scotland's continued reliance on fossil fuels, a point that Kenny MacAskill made—his point about renewables was also important.

As the report stated, we produce less than 10 per cent of our energy from renewable resources, whereas Denmark aims to get 100 per cent of its power from such sources by 2030. It also suggested that we needed to tackle the rate of traffic growth, which is one of the highest in Europe. Those are important themes, which encapsulate the difficulty of achieving the balance that sustainable development brings.

I have two practical points about renewables. I recently visited Scottish and Southern Energy in Perth—something that we in the Highlands and Islands still call the Hydro. The people whom I spoke to there said that an impediment to developing renewables is that, in those parts of Scotland where it is possible to generate wind and wave power, it is not possible to use the transmission capacity because that capacity simply does not exist. The electricity regulator's drive for cheaper power does not help generating companies to invest in increased capacity, nor does the regulator allow generators to create spare capacity in anticipation of renewable development. I think that the Executive has a role in changing that situation, and I urge the minister to consider that point in winding up.

Another difficulty is that the consumer may not be interested in green power; he or she wants cheap power. There is an added complication for environmentalists, who may oppose the development of renewable options such as wind farms in national scenic areas. There are competing demands and we must all be aware of them and try to work out the problems. The programme for government document, published last September, stated that the minister was committed to providing locational guidance on renewable energy development by the summer of 2000. That will be an important aspect of the debate.

My second point about renewables is this: The Herald reported on Monday that the value of glass from bottle banks is dropping to zero because the major company involved in recycling glass has found that the bottom has fallen out of the market, as the price of new glass is falling all the time. Local authorities face increasing difficulties because of such factors.

The progress that the Scottish Executive is making is important. When he winds up today, I would like the minister to outline the steps that have been taken to introduce the strategic environmental assessment in Scotland and what progress has been made. Parliament must strike a

practical balance between the increases that are needed in water quality and water charges for consumers, between increased power from renewables and the cost of electricity for consumers, and, as Robin Harper has said, between growing more organic food to satisfy consumer demand and the need for cheaper food. We must all toy with those balances and, irrespective of political boundaries, we must wrestle with those choices.