Hansard

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing) SNP

The next item of business is a debate on S6M-13759, in the name of Gillian Martin, on Scottish Government priorities: tackling the climate emergency. I invit...

The Minister for Climate Action (Gillian Martin) SNP

The First Minister has confirmed that tackling the climate crisis is one of his top priorities for the Government, alongside eradicating child poverty, growi...

Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

It is not possible to get solar panel funding in Scotland, although it still is possible south of the border, so ours is not the most generous system. Do you...

The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP

Please speak through the chair.

Gillian Martin SNP

Ms Boyack and I recently had an exchange on that very point and why we are focusing the funding that is available to us on encouraging the switch from emitti...

Edward Mountain (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Con

Will the minister give way on that point?

Gillian Martin SNP

I will do so in a second. The Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, which will shortly complete its parliamentary process, will support Scotland’s transition to...

Edward Mountain Con

I had to intervene on the issue of tree planting. Of course, we have hardly met our tree-planting targets in the past six years, so we are about 20,000 hecta...

Gillian Martin SNP

Key to our delivering on the ambitious targets that we put in place is having the capital funding that allows us to fund all those programmes. I said that to...

Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab

Will the minister give way briefly on that point?

Gillian Martin SNP

No—I have taken too many interventions already. Scotland’s economy grew by 67 per cent in real terms between 1990 and 2022, at the same time as we cut in ha...

Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) Lab

Certainly, the free fares for under-22s are welcome, but the reality is that someone might have a bus pass but cannot get a bus. Bus services in a lot of our...

The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP

Speak through the chair, please.

Gillian Martin SNP

Hundreds of millions of pounds have been put into the bus network; however, I am a rural MSP, and I absolutely recognise that, in constituencies such as mine...

The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP

Minister, will you please bring your remarks to a close?

Gillian Martin SNP

I hope that Parliament recognises the urgency of tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, as the science and the imperative to be pa...

Douglas Lumsden (North East Scotland) (Con) Con

I must admit that I am a bit perplexed about why the Scottish National Party has decided to bring to the chamber a debate on the subject of the climate emerg...

Gillian Martin SNP

Would Douglas Lumsden call £500 million of investment in the supply chain for ScotWind and £500 million of investment in a just transition plan “abandonment ...

Douglas Lumsden Con

We could look at how much the budget was cut for the just transition fund this year—I think that that was 75 per cent. Let me go back to the Climate Change ...

The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy (Màiri McAllan) SNP

I am proud of the progress that we have made, but it is clear that targets have been missed. What contribution to those targets being missed would Douglas Lu...

Douglas Lumsden Con

Once again, we see the Scottish Government taking no responsibility. As far as I am aware, the Conservative Party has not blocked anything that is coming thr...

Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green) Green

I am delighted to hear Douglas Lumsden talk about renewable energy and the need to invest in it. Does he acknowledge that it is critical to build the transmi...

Douglas Lumsden Con

That is because the infrastructure will have to be done with communities, not to communities—it cannot be done by riding roughshod over them. There needs to ...

Gillian Martin SNP

I would be really interested to know what Douglas Lumsden’s plan is for transforming and decarbonising Scotland’s sectors, given that he has said that we are...

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur) LD

I can give Douglas Lumsden that time back.

Douglas Lumsden Con

On electricity infrastructure, I have already said that we would work with communities to put in place infrastructure that works for those communities.

Gillian Martin SNP

There is no plan then.

Douglas Lumsden Con

It is quite clear that there is no climate change plan from this Government. It was meant to be here over a year ago, but we have no sign of it whatsoever. W...

Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP) SNP

Made a request to intervene.

Douglas Lumsden Con

Is there time for more interventions, Deputy Presiding Officer?