The Scottish Government

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2. DEVELOPMENTS

2.1 World

Climate change is a global challenge. It is not an issue that any government can address alone. Every country has a responsibility to take action to cut emissions and different actions will be appropriate for different countries.

There have been a number of key global developments in relation to climate change in the past year. These are noted below:-

• IPCC 4 ^th Assessment Report : The United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) 4 ^th Assessment report was published ⁸. This report indicates that world greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced to between 50% and 85% below year 2000 levels in order to stabilise atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and most likely limit warming to between 2.0 and 2.4° C.
• Nobel Peace Prize : The IPCC were awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore, former US Vice President, for " their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".
• UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Conference, Bali : A key United Nations climate change conference was held in Bali in December 2007 ⁹. The purpose of the conference was to reach a new international climate change deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon summed up the situation facing the World by stating that " the time for equivocation is over. The science is clear. Climate change is happening. The impact is real. The time to act is now". The conference culminated in the adoption of the Bali Roadmap, setting out a number of forward-looking decisions representing the various tracks that are essential to reaching a secure climate future. Among other things, the Roadmap includes the Bali Action Plan, which charts the course for a new negotiating process designed to tackle climate change, with the aim of completing this by 2009. A Scottish Government representative attended the Bali Summit and participated in side-events for politicians and senior officials of States and Regions where further development of effective regional action plans on climate change was discussed ¹⁰.

2.2 European Union

On 23 January 2008 the European Commission announced a far-reaching package of proposals ¹¹ that will deliver on the European Union's ambitious commitments to fight climate change, up to 2020 and beyond. The EU has committed to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and is ready to scale up this reduction to as much as 30% under a new global climate change agreement if other developed countries make comparable efforts.

Central to the strategy is a strengthening and expansion of the Emissions Trading Scheme ( EUETS) ¹² - the EU's key tool for cutting emissions cost-effectively. Emissions from the sectors covered by the system will be cut by 21% by 2020 compared with levels in 2005. A single EU-wide cap on ETS emissions will be set, and free allocation of emission allowances will be progressively replaced by auctioning of allowances by 2020.

Emissions from sectors not included in the EUETS - such as transport, housing, agriculture and waste - will be cut by 10% of 2005 levels by 2020. Each Member State will contribute to this effort according to its relative wealth, with national emission targets ranging from -20% to +20%. The proposal for the UK target is -16%. The Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government during negotiations on the proposals.

2.3 UK

The UK Government published its consultation on a draft Climate Change Bill ¹³ in March 2007, with a headline target of reducing the UK's carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. The Bill was introduced into the UK Parliament on 14 November 2007. Following the Scottish Parliament's agreement on 20 December 2007 to a Legislative Consent Motion, many of the provisions of the UK Bill, on enactment, will extend to Scotland.

The UK Bill includes provisions to establish the Committee on Climate Change - an independent, statutory body with a remit to advise Government on a set of 'carbon budgets'. The Chair - Lord Adair Turner - and 5 Committee members have now been appointed and the Committee is operating in shadow format until the UK Bill achieves Royal Assent. The Committee has been tasked with setting 5 year carbon budgets by December 2008. During the passage of the UK Bill through the House of Lords, the UK Government - with the agreement of Scottish Ministers - requested the Committee to review the UK's long term target to see whether it should be increased and to advise on whether the target should be extended to cover non-CO ₂ greenhouse gas emissions in addition to CO ₂.

The Chair and Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change had an initial meeting with the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, on 17 March 2008. A wider stakeholder event was also held in Glasgow on that date to enable the Committee to set out their work programme and obtain feedback from a wide range of Scottish stakeholders.

2.4 Scotland

The Scottish Government recognises that climate change is one of the most serious threats the world faces, and is determined that Scotland will play its part in rising to the challenge it poses.

The Scottish Government's overall purpose is to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.

As part of the Government Economic Strategy ¹⁴ a set of high level Purpose targets have been identified that include specific benchmarks for sustainable economic growth. In recognition of the importance of tackling climate change, reducing emissions over the period to 2011 and then by 80% by 2050 are two of these Purpose targets.

To give effect to the long term target the Scottish Government launched a consultation on a Scottish Climate Change Bill on 29 January 2008 ¹⁵. The consultation closed for comment on 23 April. This Bill is intended to provide a long term legal framework for achieving a low carbon economy. It also proposes a requirement that Ministers are held to account in the event of failure to meet emissions reductions, with mandatory annual reporting to Parliament. The Scottish Government anticipates introducing a draft Bill to Parliament in late 2008.

During the development of the consultation Scottish Government had close discussions with four key stakeholder groups: business and industry, academia and research, non-governmental organisations, and the wider public sector. This is in addition to a workshop held at the Sustainable Scotland Network conference in November 2007. During the consultation period, four consultation events took place, three of which were held in partnership with key stakeholders ( CoSLA, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise). These were attended by around 160 invited stakeholders.

The Scottish Government is also developing Scotland's first climate change adaptation strategy and will carry out a consultation on this during summer 2008. Further details on the strategy are outlined in sections 4.0 and 5.5.

In the Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007, the Scottish Government made a commitment to ensure that public spending across portfolios contributes to the action needed to meet emissions targets. At the Budget debate on 23 January 2008 the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth announced that the Government was working to put in place by 2009-10, a carbon assessment tool that will be applied across all government spending in Scotland. Further details on this work are outlined in sections 5.2 and 5.3.

In recognition of the important role communities can play in rising to the challenge of climate change a new £18.8 million Climate Challenge Fund has been established to support community-based projects. The fund is due to be formally launched and open for applications shortly.

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