Meeting of the Parliament 07 May 2014
The key point that I would make to Alison Johnstone is that all these issues must be considered within our framework to reduce climate change. I have just commented on the importance of realising our climate change targets, so any action that is taken on the development of energy resources must, in the first place, be compatible with the robust regulatory framework that we have put in place for the regulation of all these areas and, secondly, must also enable us to secure the necessary progress that is required on our climate change targets.
The Government continues to keep the regulatory framework under review. For example, we have recognised that there is a significant amount of scientific evidence available on unconventionals and, to ensure that that information is assessed effectively, the Scottish Government has convened an independent expert scientific panel to review the evidence. Of course, that will be instrumental in informing any further decisions that the Government takes and it will have a bearing on Scottish planning policy, which is currently under review and will be the subject of conclusions by the Minister for Local Government and Planning in due course, along with the national planning framework, which has attracted interest from parliamentary committees.
The Government has in place robust arrangements to ensure that these issues are dealt with effectively and satisfactorily and that we fulfil our obligations on emissions reduction under the world-leading climate change legislation that the Parliament passed.
I move amendment S4M-09927.3, to leave out from “the significant” to end and insert:
“that Scotland has a rich diversity of energy sources including a very successful oil and gas sector and growing expertise in renewables including wind, wave and tidal; welcomes Scotland’s evidence-based approach to unconventional fossil fuels; supports the ongoing review of the scientific evidence by the expert scientific panel in relation to unconventional fossil fuels and looks forward to its report; welcomes the Scottish Government’s announcement of a strengthening of Scottish planning policy, coming into force in June 2014, in relation to unconventional fossil fuel extraction as an indication that the concerns of environmental campaigners and local communities are taken seriously; further welcomes the recent UK Committee on Climate Change report that praised Scottish progress in decarbonising its energy sector; notes that almost half of Scotland’s electricity is now delivered from renewables, and further notes that Scotland has the world’s leading climate change legislation and the largest carbon emission reductions in western Europe.”
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