The Scottish Government

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5. MEASURING SUCCESS

We have standards and targets designed to encourage more sustainable development, including:

• 18 per cent of electricity generation in Scotland to come from renewables by 2010
• 40 per cent of electricity generation in Scotland to come from renewables by 2020
• the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) compels licensed suppliers to provide more renewable electricity, and provide evidence that they are meeting their obligation
• 25 per cent recycling and composting of municipal waste by 2006
• 30 per cent recycling and composting of municipal waste by 2008
• 55 per cent recycling and composting of municipal waste by 2020
• targets to divert biodegradable municipal waste from landfill
• increase membership of the Green Tourism Business Scheme by a third each year for the next three years
• high thermal insulation standards for new buildings work, including
• a wall insulation standard that is currently the highest in the UK
• a requirement for 270mm of conventional roof insulation
• a further tightening of window standards from 1 May 2005

We will also consider the need for new energy efficiency measures as part of the development of the proposed energy efficiency strategy for Scotland. And we have a review underway of the energy standards within Scottish building regulations.

As noted in earlier sections, these targets present companies with business opportunities. We want to measure how successful we are in taking up these opportunities, and also how successful we are in improving resource efficiency. For this we need to be clear about what outcomes we seek, while taking into account the potential wider economic impact. Clarity on outcomes then allows us to establish targets for the outputs which will contribute to the desired outcomes.

Outcomes

As the Optimat report ¹⁷ noted, there is very limited international evidence on the impact of government interventions to create jobs in environmental sectors and of the employment benefits of greater resource efficiency generally. There is even less evidence on the overall employment impact, taking into account displacement effects ¹⁸.

Assessment of jobs growth in Denmark, where there has been a large number of interventions, is limited to the wind industry, which now supports over 20,000 jobs. However, our aim for this strategy goes much wider than one or two selected industries and our vision is for a Scotland where all areas of business benefit.

As noted in our consultation paper, it is far from clear-cut to set targets for growth in green sectors. Quite apart from straightforward problems of data collection, the range of industries and activity covered within this strategy does not easily lend itself to setting useful or manageable targets. Nor is it simple to measure improved resource efficiency for business as a whole. What we intend is to measure progress at the highest level and in terms of outputs that contribute to such progress.

Measuring Scotland's Progress Towards a Smart, Successful Scotland¹⁹ sets out a range of progress measures, including ones dealing with productivity and innovation:

• 1A: Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) per head of population
• 1B: Index of CO₂ emissions divided by GDP
• 2C: Proportion of innovative firms
• 4A: Business research and development as percentage of GDP
• 4B: Number of academic spinouts
• 4C: Number of patents filed (academic and industry)
• 5A: Relative productivity levels in Scottish industry

In 2004 we added measure 1B as an additional headline measure. It is designed to give an indication of the sustainability of economic growth and is also one of a broader suite of measures which were published in 2002 in Meeting the Needs…²⁰. These measures are being reviewed as part of the development of our new Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy.

Outputs

We will also set or agree output targets for the activity which we expect to contribute to the implementation of this strategy and to the achievement of progress in the measures set out above.

Scottish Enterprise ( SEn) and Highlands & Islands Enterprise ( HIE) set out their planned activity in Operating Plans. They track outputs which provide a measure of progress, and are currently focusing on supporting businesses to achieve business benefits through environmental initiatives. In 2004/05 HIE supported 100 businesses and SEn supported over 300 businesses in this way. This represented an increase on 2003/04 and we expect this trend to continue.

We expect SEn's and HIE's next operating plans to reflect this green jobs strategy and will work with them to further develop objectives within their operating plans, building also on the work emerging from the new Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy.

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