Hansard

I will come back to the member later if time allows.

We need urgent action from the UK Government to buy in to meeting our net zero targets and securing the vast economic opportunities of the green economy. We have reached the point where there can be no further delay in that action from the UK Government. Market certainty is key. We need the UK Government to work with us to create a stable policy and regulatory environment and to deliver a well-managed transition that ultimately improves investor confidence that investing in the green economy is a worthwhile investment that delivers its economic potential.

The unprecedented announcement that the UK Government made last year to renege on its net zero commitments, including the roll-back of policies that were already announced and accounted for, has repercussions. Changing those timelines undermines our commitment to growing the green economy, securing private sector investment and, of course, our net zero transition, but it also knocks investor confidence. We need clarity to support long-term investment opportunities in Scotland as we transition to a green economy. Although we are doing what we can to provide that investor certainty, as is evidenced by the likes of the onshore wind sector deal, the lack of clarity and the uncertainty and barriers to investment are undermining our progress.

Alongside inaction and U-turns, we see a lack of recognition in Westminster of the global context in which we compete. We are deeply concerned by the UK Government’s failure to recognise and keep pace with the level of capital investment that is required to deliver a just transition to net zero. Around the world, we see Governments stepping in to invest in the green economy at scale through things such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in the US and the European green deal. Those ambitious packages are designed to drive investment in net zero technologies and the transition, and that funding and spending will shape future markets in which Scotland competes.

UK investment levels stand in stark contrast to those initiatives, and that position, sadly, looks unlikely to change regardless of whether it is Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer in Downing Street after the election. Labour once pledged that it would invest an additional £28 billion a year. That was to be its bold response to the US Inflation Reduction Act, but barely a week goes by without that pledge being watered down. First the target date was delayed, and then Labour quietly dropped the word “additional”. Now, it is not a commitment but merely an aspiration, and one that is unlikely to make it to polling day.

We must see bolder, braver interventions in this space from the next UK Government to ensure that we are competitive for private capital. Given how competitive the landscape is and how quickly decisions are being taken, we might, arguably, have already missed opportunities. We cannot afford to wait any longer; we need action now.

Where does that leave us? Scotland must seize the opportunities that are presented by the global transition to net zero now, or risk missing out. We can meet our ambitious emissions reduction targets only with transformational action across our society and economy. However, without UK action, we cannot achieve our goals. Inaction at the UK level limits what we can do in Scotland. We call on the UK Government to recognise the scale of the challenge and the scale of the opportunity, and to invest appropriately. We call on it to recognise that one role of Government in this era-defining transformation is to create market certainty and to stay the course with the right policy choices; to recognise that, under the current devolution settlement, the UK Government holds many of the levers that are needed to make the transition work; and to use those levers correctly.

Our ambition in this Government and in Scotland is to build a fair and growing green economy, and we will deploy all the tools and levers that we have in the service of that ambition. We call on all the parties at Westminster to join us in that endeavour, and we call on members of this Parliament to recognise and support the motion.

I move,

That the Parliament considers that a just transition is vital to both tackling the climate emergency and building a strong and sustainable economy; welcomes the growing strength of Scotland’s green economy, with more than 42,000 FTE jobs supported by Scotland’s renewable energy sector, and the recent Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan report that identified almost £90 billion of green investments currently underway or planned to commence in the next three years; agrees that the energy transition and associated supply chain development has the potential to help grow a fair, green wellbeing economy in Scotland; recognises the vital role of public investment in continuing to deliver a just transition to net zero and that the forthcoming Green Industrial Strategy will identify and focus action on the most significant economic opportunities for Scotland; is deeply concerned by the UK Government’s failure to keep pace, with overall capital investment levels in decline; understands that declining levels of investment in the UK are in stark contrast to initiatives to increase public investment elsewhere, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the USA and the European Green Deal; recognises the limits that this lack of action at the UK level imposes on Scotland, and that in spite of this, £2.7 billion will be invested by the Scottish Government in activities that will have a positive impact on the delivery of its climate change goals in 2024-25; notes that the Climate Change Committee has estimated that 1-2% of GDP needs to be invested in the transition annually until 2050, and calls, therefore, on the UK Government to urgently increase green investment to at least £28 billion a year to ensure that Scotland and the rest of the UK can deliver a just transition to net zero.