 The next item of business is a debate on motion 8626 in the name of Mary McCallan on delivering on climate change and the just transition. Are the white members wishing to participate to press the request-to-speak buttons now or as soon as possible? I call on Mary McCallan, Cabinet Secretary, around 12 minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am delighted to open this debate in my new role as Cabinet Secretary for next zero and just transition. Those matters coming together side by side at Cabinet level for the first time, I believe, is instructive. For me, net zero is about acknowledging that unavoidable truth that we face a global climate and nature emergency and that we have to be prepared to take action to commensurate with the scale of that challenge. Putting this side by side with just transition at the top of government makes clear the commitment of this Government to taking action and to doing so in a way that is carefully managed, that is fair, which learns the mistakes of the past and which leaves no one and no community behind. Let me be clear, Presiding Officer, that SNP-led Government will never allow to happen to Scotland's oil and gas workers that was done to our steel and coal mining communities under Thatcher, where unplanned shifts left families and communities devastated. The First Minister and I visited Aberdeen earlier this month, and we saw some of what this Government's £500 million just transition fund is supporting. Our commitment to the north-east is, of course, in stark contrast to the UK Government, who repeatedly refused, as recently as last week, to match our investment, despite the hundreds of billions of pounds that have flown from the North Sea to the UK Treasury since the 1970s. All the while, they continue to refuse to match our investment in the Scottish cluster. I will take your intervention. Liam Kerr, very grateful. The minister will presumably acknowledge the UK Government's £16 billion North Sea transition deal that is 32 times the size of her just transition fund. I acknowledge and I welcome every bit of support that flows into our north-east because of its importance to the future of our economy and to our climate targets, but that is small in comparison to that figure that I quoted those hundreds of billions of pounds that have flown from the North Sea to the UK Treasury. The IPCC AR6 synthesis report, which was coined a survival guide for humanity, could not have been clearer that the window of opportunity for the deep and urgent emission reductions that the world needs is rapidly closing. That summarises the urgency of net zero. Equally, a couple of experiences that I have had this week have really summed up to me the importance of just transition. First, on Monday in my role as MSP for Clyde Stale, which is a constituency steeped in industrial history, I was invited by the excellent Douglas Steele real group to visit Woodlands that they had recently acquired on behalf of their community. As we headed through the quiet, rigid area, they explained to me how, on the land that we were walking on, as wild as it was, there had once stood the busy mining town of Douglas West, a town complete with rows and rows of houses, a school, a train station and, I am told, the first mining pit baths in Scotland. Naturally, I had 101 questions for the members of Douglas Steele real group and I am grateful to them for answering them and for sharing their own memories of spending time in Douglas West. I want to thank them today and I would like to pay tribute to all of the people and the workers of the lost mining town of Douglas West. That story speaks to the need for a just transition. So, too, did the day that I spent yesterday at Grange Mouth, both with INEOS, Union representatives and the fourth port. The Grange Mouth complex epitomises the need for a just transition being, as it is, so critical to our everyday life, so central to our economy and to so many workers and families, but at the same time being responsible for significant industrial emissions that have to be rapidly driven down. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to visit and to hear their net zero plans and just transition strategies. I have spent a bit of time this afternoon setting that context and I think it is important to do that when you in post. Of course, it is something that this Government has done this week in our prospectus equality opportunity community. Having set out my mission in this portfolio as I see it, I would like to spend the rest of the time identifying some of the ways that we will fulfil that task drawing on our prospectus. Before I do so, I want to make clear that we remain in the grip of another crisis, as many Scots struggle with the increased cost of living, the cost of energy, food and basic goods being at extraordinary levels and the UK being an outlier in that regard. We have to take every opportunity that we can to help alleviate that burden. Indeed, one of the first acts of the new First Minister has been to build on our commitment to double the fuel and security fund and now has commitment to triple it to 30 million this year, helping people at risk of self rationing or self disconnecting their energy use. This is so important and another example of why fairness has to be at the heart of everything that we do. Our 2020 updated climate change plan contains more than 200 policies and proposals to drive down emissions and since then our focus has been on delivering that at pace. Now we are developing our next fuel plan with a draft due in parliament by the end of this year, covering the period to 2040 and the goal to by then have driven emissions down by 90 per cent on 1999 baseline. There is no denying that achieving this target and all of our annual targets up to that point will be extremely challenging. The targets that this Parliament set are rightly ambitious and we will have to collaborate if we are to meet them. But amid the challenge there is undoubtedly social and economic opportunity. Our next climate change plan will fully embrace this opportunity to transform our country for the better. For example, we will enhance our energy security and economic resilience by investing in renewable energy. We will insulate our homes to reduce energy consumption. We will tackle fuel poverty and create jobs across the country and we will make public and active transport more accessible to reduce car use and improve air quality with all the benefits that that in particular brings to public health. I look forward to updating this chamber as we develop those policies and of course to working with members across Government and right across the Parliament. I will do that in particular as part of the climate change plan action group, which I chair and which has representatives of every party of this Parliament on it. As a former Environment Minister, I intimately understand the critical role that our environment must play in the transition to net zero. The twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are intrinsically linked and our forthcoming land use and agriculture just transition plan will help to ensure that we make the changes needed while providing assurance for workers and communities who will be touched by the transition in this sector. In order to achieve a nature positive net zero Scotland, we know that our land and sea will need to balance competing demands. On land, farmers and land managers must be empowered to lead the change to sustainable and regenerative practices. We also need to increase tree cover in restore habitats, including through the quarter of a billion pounds that we have committed to invest in restoring 250,000 hectares of peatland by 2030. We have made significant commitments to protecting restore biodiversity and through our new Scottish biodiversity strategy, we will act to reverse biodiversity loss by 2045 and we will introduce at least the process to introduce at least one new national park over this Parliament. At sea, we will develop our new national marine plan to manage resources and enhance the marine environment and I'll take the opportunity to build just transition principles into this. We'll continue to implement our future fisheries management strategy and use our forthcoming aquaculture vision to support marine sectors to transition to net zero and I will work with coastal and island communities and our fishing sector as we develop marine protection. We understand how could we not that these challenges will not be easy to achieve but developed with communities I believe they can result in a better quality of life, fair work, resilient rural coastal and island communities and a better natural environment for future generations. I mentioned our land and agriculture just transition plan in the next year. We will have published four draft sectoral just transition plans, that for land use and agriculture, one for buildings and construction and for transport alongside the finalised energy strategy and just transition plan, which was published and draft in January. We're also committed to developing a just transition plan for the Grangemouth energy cluster in 2024 to provide clarity and support to workers and the community during this period of transformation. Our plans will be informed by the just transition commission, by businesses, communities, workers and their trade unions across Scotland and by those, crucially, who are most impacted, including those who have experience of discrimination, poverty and wider inequalities. On the draft energy strategy, one of the key areas I'll be focusing on for the final draft is skills and setting a clear pathway to secure the skilled labour required to drive forward our transition because there is no doubt that with the transformation that we are facing as a country our education and skills system will must adapt to meet that. Likewise in buildings and construction, the transition will change the way we approach planning and design, the choices we make about construction materials and methods, operation on going maintenance and the way that we use and repurpose buildings and the places that they have occupied. Our plan will help to maximise the opportunities for the people of Scotland to live and work in buildings that are cheaper to run, that are warmer and that have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing. In transport, we have key opportunities to reset the existing inequalities in our current system, including in safe access to sustainable modes of transport. We have committed to reduce the car kilometres driven by 20 per cent by 2030 and are building now to deliver this commitment fairly by designing a future transport system that is accessible for those with different needs and circumstances. While we do that, we are working to ensure that a higher proportion of vehicles on our roads will be zero-emission and that the private sector plays its part in investing in charging and refuelling infrastructure that our communities will need. Participation is absolutely critical to just transition. That is why we have supported the STUC with £100,000 funding so that our unions and their workers they represent have capacity to fully engage in this process. Our approach to delivering a just transition puts co-design at the core of planning, calling on a diverse range of perspective to develop solutions that are fair and that are sustainable. I truly believe that when we reach 2045, if we have got there via a just transition, those solutions will be more sustainable. During the development of the energy strategy and just transition plans, we engaged around 1,500 people at events across Scotland, stretching from Dumfries to Thurso and through online engagement, and we will continue to draw on that. I have tried to touch on a number of the aspects that constitute a wide range of challenges that I will be working with colleagues on. I will conclude there, but before doing so, I just like to welcome my colleague, Gillian Martin, to her role as energy minister. As a committed north-east MSP, I know that she will bring significant experience to that role. I am sure that she will want to reflect on energy in particular as she participates in today's debate, but for my part, on energy, I see a nation with rich natural energy assets that others would dearly love to have in, on and offshore wind, in hydrogen and wave and tidal, and of course in CCUS. All of that will be key, and we will have to be seized as we move to tackle climate change. Of course, as we fairly transition from our natural wealth in oil and gas to our wealth in a green economy of the future, the question for the people of Scotland is who do they want to lead that change. In whose hands do they want our energy powers to rest? Do they want them left in the hands of successive UK Governments who have squandered our oil wealth, or as an independent nation in the hands of the people of Scotland through Governments that they elect? I move the motion. I now call Liam Kerr to speak to and move amendment 8626.2 I welcome the cabinet secretary to her new role. We too recognise the scale and urgency of the climate crisis, which is why the UK's success in nearly halving carbon emissions and cutting carbon emissions from electricity generation by 73 per cent between 1990 and 2021 is so welcome. We also agree on the need to get to net zero through a transition that is just not only to the workforce but also to communities in Scotland, the UK and around the world. However, when it comes to the workforce transition, the Government has to recognise that when its energy strategy promises 77,000 low-carbon jobs by 2050, people are sceptical. In 2010, the Scottish Government pledged to create 130,000 green jobs by 2020 and, in fact, delivered marginally over 20,000. Of course, we heard that it remains unsure of its definition of green jobs, gaming the definitions presumably to hit the targets. It is just that sort of magical thinking lacking evidential data-driven scientific analysis that permeates the energy strategy and makes people, particularly in the north-east, dubious about the Government's ability to deliver a just transition. Indeed, Professor Ski of the Just Transition Commission said of the strategy that he was deeply concerned about the lack of evidence of adequate policy actions to deliver a just transition for the energy sector. That is writ large in that we know that demand for electricity is expected to nearly treble by 2050. We know from Scottish Government figures that oil and gas provided nearly 80 per cent of Scottish consumption power and over 90 per cent of Scotland's heat demand in 2020. We know from this Government's own figures that the decline in Scottish oil and gas is steeper than the decline required globally to keep temperature rises below 1.5 degrees. We know from natural gas from the North Sea in two seconds, please. We know that natural gas from the North Sea emits less than half as much greenhouse gas as LNG imported from countries such as the USA, Qatar and Russia. Finally, we know that, in 2021, Scotland generated 30 per cent of electricity from nuclear. I am keen to work with north-east MSPs on all of this. I am really hopeful that we will have a constructive relationship. Would Liam Kerr agree that part of the issue here is that we need new systems to take the amount of electricity that we could potentially be generating in Scotland? There needs to be a total upgrade and a real resetting of that contracts for difference process at the moment so that we can actually get Scottish green electricity to market? I am grateful for the intervention. I look forward to working very much with Gillian Martin, who I have worked with previously and productively. I do generally look forward to that engagement. The net zero committee has been looking into exactly this—how we generate our power and how we actually get it to market, what the grid is going to look like and the on-going work that we are doing very productively in the committee that I have no doubt the minister will be interested in just on exactly that point. The problem is, however, that even against all the facts that we have given and the minister's intervention about how we get the power generated, the draft energy strategy states that, in order to support the fastest possible and most effective just transition, there should be a presumption against new exploration for oil and gas. It goes on. We do not support the building of new nuclear power plants. Presiding Officer, to fail to set out how baseload will be replaced, to fail to set out how the jobs will be transitioned and to what, to fail to state what will replace a zero emission source such as nuclear when the answer will likely have to be imported fossil fuels, is negligence on an industrial scale. It completely ignores that the best way to adjust transition is to work with our successful North Sea businesses, not against them, because the energy strategy ignores that BP are providing £18 billion to invest in projects like wind, EV charging and hydrogen, Shell are providing up to £25 billion for low and zero carbon projects and their girls and energy scheme, Technip are investing in an independent company generating marine power and Equinor are not only producing oil and gas, but powering UK homes with wind and helping to build a hydrogen economy. Presiding Officer, we cannot achieve a just transition without the North Sea, so shutting them down to appease a cabal of ideologically driven Green Party MSPs is as short-sighted as it is ignorant. In fact, Presiding Officer, what needs to happen was set out by Lord Diebin. He said, there needs to be a clear programme step by step for how Scotland is going to achieve targets that it has put forward. That means, in my view, an assessment of what might be restricting entrepreneurialism in Scotland and whether, for example, the tax regime being higher than elsewhere in the UK is restricting talent. It means reviewing whether SDS and the enterprise agencies are doing their jobs properly and have sufficient resources to do what we ask them to. It means the creation of a genuine energy strategy, which asks what will demand be and how much energy will we need to generate to service it, because from there we can define the totality of what technologies will be required to satisfy that demand, because you do not create an industry on a single project. Businesses and investors need a pipeline, and from there we can answer precisely what professions and skills we will need to satisfy those projects, allowing us to answer questions as to where we intend to train those people and, thus, what courses we need the colleges and universities to run, which ensures that those colleges in particular can be properly funded and create places instead of a situation where they have had to cut over 151,000 college places since the 2007 SNP Government. That allows us to meaningfully talk about funding those places, and, given the results of the energy sector workers survey, perhaps providing bespoke support for transferring oil and gas workers. Having worked out what we need and who we need to do it, the Government's strategy can assess and provide to and for a supply chain asking what have we got in Scotland, what can be repurposed or restarted, what materials do we need and where can we source them from, such as supporting and sourcing the rare metals for EV batteries from companies like Aberdeen Minerals, instead of outsourcing our responsibilities to areas and regimes of the world with much less attractive practices. At the moment, our supply chain is not being considered in the round, nor is it being backed. The obvious example, of course, is the sourcing of two ferries from Turkey, which I discovered through a PQ, which has contracted one Scottish company out of 58 to supply it. Where this all gets us to is that this Government must stop patting itself on the back for its magical thinking, stop offshoring our responsibilities, stop denigrating our world-leading North Sea energy industry, start taking a science and evidence-based approach to ensure a just transition and become much better at communicating that these are the high value green jobs of the future, as well as articulating the costs to the consumer of failing to get to net zero. In short, that is what the amendment in my name calls for and why I have pleasure in moving it. Mr Kerr, I now call on Sarah Boyack to speak to you in move amendment 8626.1 again around eight minutes. First of all, I welcome the cabinet secretary to her new role. Scottish Labour will be constructive, we will work to hold the Scottish Government to account and when we believe we need more action we will be absolutely clear about what extra proposals we would have to deliver on our climate targets. I am proud of the fact that the Scottish Parliament passed world leading climate legislation. I know that my Labour colleagues over the years made contributions to both the 2009 and the 2019 climate acts, but we are now at a point where we need to see the heavy lifting and implementation now, not in a decade. That is why I am keen to amend the motion led by the SNP Green Government today, because we need stronger action now. The climate emergency demands it, so we need to see action on the recommendations from the UK climate change committee's recent report and Audit Scotland's analysis of where we need more action. The UK triple seas report last year highlighted significant failures in meeting our climate targets. Key areas were identified, making our homes and our buildings fit for the future, decarbonising our transport, but also action on land management, in particular getting reforestation right and restoring our peatlands. Given last week's worrying report on the loss of biodiversity, we need action that is joined up. It does not just tackle the climate emergency but also the nature emergency too. Audit Scotland's briefing is also clear that we are not seeing the joined up action right across government that the cabinet secretary talked about in her speech. There are major failings on monitoring and the co-ordination of work on climate change with not enough of a focus on risk assessment. That is really important. We need more action as well on adaptation to ensure that our communities are given the investment that they need now to address the climate change that is already happening, for example, in terms of flooding. As ever I said at the start of my contribution, we will be constructive. We will propose changes that we think need to be made and we will talk to those who have got experience out with the Parliament. However, a key issue that we need to see joined up in the climate crisis is tackling our cost of living crisis. That has got to be done at the same time. We have got to make sure that the jobs and the investment deliver all our ambitions. When we look at housing, for example, I want to congratulate Alex Rowley in persuading the Scottish Government to adopt the principles proposed in his passive house members bill, but we need to see a massive step up in making our existing homes energy efficient, and that means urgent action right across Scotland. That is why it is so disappointing that in the middle of a cost of living crisis, where 25 per cent of our children are living in poverty and families cannot afford to heat their homes, that last year the SNP Green Government failed to deliver the proposed £133 million of investment in energy efficiency. It would have been a classic win-win tackling poverty, creating supply chains, skilled jobs right across our communities and reducing climate emissions. We need practical action, and we also need to see more incentive to support renewables technologies in our homes, our communities, so developing heat networks using the range of proven technologies to heat and power our homes. It is a massive transition, but we need clear plans and we also need ministerial leadership, and it also means heavy lifting. For example, thinking through and practice how we help tenements and flat owners to get access to the investment that will enable them to decarbonise their homes. Families could save hundreds of pounds, £500 on their energy bills under the plans that we have been developing as UK Labour to deliver investment in our homes for extra insulation. That would be a commitment if Labour got into power at the UK level, and it would benefit us in Scotland too, but we also need to see more community renewables work, a big expansion, and again the opportunity is there, but we need to see leadership from the Scottish Government, sharing best practice, supporting our councils, giving them the investment they need to make sure that we can be innovative in planning an investment. There has been some fantastic work done by the Scottish Renewables, the Scottish Cooperative Party on renewables, how they can deliver for our communities, and how we can see community renewables help to reinvest in communities. There is money being made across Scotland that we should see invested into our communities, so that means a lot of work. We can learn from other countries, we just need to look at Denmark to see what they have done over the years with community heat networks owned by councils and moving to low-carbon networks, so we need a joined-up approach. I would say that that is right across our Governments, our UK Government, our Scottish Government and our councils to deliver the just transition that we need. Our green prosperity plan would give us that clean power system right across the UK within seven years, and the new publicly owned energy generation company would mean that the profits, jobs and the benefits of our natural resources in Scotland are not off-shored, but they practically benefit local communities. There is so much more that we could do now. We just need to look at the Scotland project. It is a massive missed opportunity in terms of the profits that companies will make, which is so ironic, given the SNP's ambition to learn from our Nordic Labour's neighbours. We could just be doing this now, and it is a missed opportunity. I want to briefly mention the decarbonisation of transport, which is also mentioned in the cabinet secretary's speech. I was glad that it was mentioned. It is good that our trains and our buses are going low-carbon, but we need more reliable, more affordable, accessible services. People need to be able to get to work regardless of what time of day they are going to work with decent public transport options, but we have gone into reverse, because we have seen huge numbers of bus services being lost right across the country, exacerbated by Covid, but not just due to that. That lack of access to local bus services means that people cannot get to work and they cannot access services without using cars, so you have to give them the opportunity. This morning, in our SEAC committee, for example, we discussed the impact of the lack of transport services, stopping people accessing culture and creating opportunities, particularly in our rural areas. That has to be fixed. In the spirit of being constructive, what is the Scottish Government doing to implement the Scottish Labour amendments that have been put down on the 2019 Transport Act to support municipal bus companies? We have not seen the progress, we have not seen additional investment to local authorities to let them get the innovation that our services and our communities desperately need. You can learn a lot from what Lothian buses do that could be rolled out across Scotland in different areas. As we move to electric vehicles, we need to see more choices for people, more car share schemes, so people do not always have to buy a car to use a car. There is a lot more that this Government could be doing, and supporting local authorities is absolutely critical. A joined-up approach is fundamental. It is not just councils working on their own but getting support, and they need funding for the Scottish Government so that they can actually do what they want to do now, not in 10 years' time. That is an emergency. I am proposing a member's bill on wellbeing and sustained development, and it would enable us to do more of that joined-up thinking. I want to thank all those who have contributed to my consultation. I hope that ministers will have a look at my potential bill, because it could also be a game changer. We need to act now. The Scottish Government needs to act on recommendations from Audit Scotland. We also need to see action on the UK Climate Change Committee recommendations. Our coastal and island communities are going to be particularly vulnerable to the climate emergency, and we need action on flood prevention now. Because we are approaching a tipping point and we owe it to young people to secure their future, I was shocked to read last week about the extent to which young people are now worrying that their mental health is being impacted by thinking about the climate emergency. It is their future at risk, and we as politicians have to act now. We do not need to agree on everything, but we have to try to make sure that we get cross-party agreement on radical action. Leadership, investment, new jobs across Scotland, using public procurement, making sure that just transition actually works for people across the country, and action to make the change that our communities need. That is what we need to do. We need to work together, and I move the amendment in my name. I, too, would welcome the cabinet secretary to her new role. Had my amendment been accepted, it would have been called on the Scottish Government to address the volume of sewage overflowing in Scotland's waterways. We know that sewage overflow across Scotland is at least equivalent to more than 18,000 olympic swimming pools, and that figure is only coming from the 4 per cent of overflows that are monitored. The release of sewage into Scotland's waterways on at least 14,000 occasions in 2022 is unacceptable, and we must ensure that we have the infrastructure and a monitoring regime that can keep those using our beaches, locks and rivers safe and safeguard the natural environment. We are supportive of the principles of the motion on amendment, but they need to be followed up with action. Audit Scotland's report on the Government's delivery of climate goals indicated that there are gaps in reports with no workforce plan for climate change since the net zero department was established in late 2021. We need to get to grips with tackling the climate emergency with a laser-like focus on the environment. We would like to see the launching of an emergency nationwide insulation programme for homes and buildings to improve energy efficiency, an introduction of measures to boost the uptake of EVs and removing barriers to the faster roll-out of solar power. Our overarching concern is that the Scottish Government's policy on climate change in net zero lacks sufficient detail and misses emission reduction targets. Those gaps are holding Scotland back from achieving our climate goals. There is so much to discuss across this topic and important that we get it right for the future of all life on the planet, and I'll therefore focus on carbon emission caused by transport and securing a just transition. To take each in turn, transport is currently the highest-emitting sector in Scotland. The latest figure of 26 per cent is from 2020, encompassing the lockdown, while pre-Covid is 36 per cent. All islands, including Shetland, rely on transport connectivity, whether they are air, sea or vehicles, and those are lifeline services that are used every day for social health and economic activities. Cars are a necessity in areas where bus connections do not meet the realities of geography. Ferries are a large contributor to carbon emissions, and we welcome plans to switch to a more sustainable fleet. Plans to make the passenger vessels on the north isles Aberdeen route must be more sustainable, but must be balanced with plans for added freight capacity on the route. Freight capacity is vital to Shetland's economy, helping us to punch above our weight in contributing to Scotland's economy as a whole, seafood exports being one example. Turning now to inter-island connections, ferries contribute additional emissions for which Scottish mainland communities do not have an equivalence. Short tunnels in Shetland connecting island communities would also help benefit both national and local economies. Tunnel action groups in the isles are making the economic case and the environmental case that tunnels could outweigh the carbon emissions of the ferry services on the routes. Turning to cars, plans to move to electric vehicles are welcome. The key thing to get right is the infrastructure across Scotland, but especially in rural locations. Those are often the places most reliant on private cars, and being stranded miles from the nearest charger cannot be an option if EVs are to help us out of our net zero targets. Turning now to the just transition for the workforce, renewable energy projects in Scotland will be vital to reach our net zero targets. Shetland is well placed in the terms of a future energy hub, centred geographically at the crossroads of the North Sea to support future developments with Shetland's infrastructure and workforce across engineering and marine skills ready to adapt. Roles in the sector are highly attractive to those at the beginning of their career and for the existing traditional energy workforce. Oil and gas employees have a wealth of knowledge and experience that are transferable to technologies such as green hydrogen and renewables. Training and upskilling must continue to move at pace to take full advantage of those opportunities to build the workforce for the future. The north-east and the islands and islands made a significant contribution to Scotland by adapting to make the most of the North Sea oil and gas. People in those areas are looking to future opportunities as livelihoods and communities adapt to the emerging renewable sector, both onshore and offshore. Workers and communities cannot be left on the scrap heap, as we have seen in previous decades. We must ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to gain skills for the future and the support and retraining that they need to thrive. That skilled workforce is vital to a just transition. As I mentioned to begin with, there is so much to discuss. As a member of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, all our work considers in some way how we will ensure sustainability in the future. As the agriculture bill comes before us, this will be especially important to ensure sustainable farming and food security. We were reminded yesterday in the committee that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report fears how close we are to not meeting the 1.5° Paris agreement target to limit warning. Time is running out. We now move to the open debate. I call First Co-Camp Stuart to be followed by Brian Whittle for around six minutes. I welcome this timely debate on the urgency to deliver on climate change and ensure a just transition. We have to reimagine behavioural and cultural change, and change can be uncomfortable. However, I am afraid that we have to accept some discomfort because the alternative will be much worse. Across those and the green seats, we rightly talk of setting high ambitions for Scotland when it comes to tackling the causes of climate change. The most ambitious nation in the UK, in fact, our younger generations and generations yet to come, are relying on us to deliver on that ambition, and we need to act and take action on that ambition. Last year, I saw the hottest... Liam Kerr. I am very grateful. How does what the member has just said, Square with Audit Scotland, saying that they have no clear plan for net zero? Hook up, Stuart. I will come on to some of the actions and mention them. The cabinet secretary has mentioned those plans already. I was about to go on to say that last year I saw the hottest temperatures in Scotland that were ever recorded as staggering 35.1 degrees C in Kelso. Unfortunately, as Beatrice Wishart has already mentioned, it is now looking more and more likely that we may well pass the 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels marker by 2030, but knowing that we are likely to pass this marker does not mean that we should give up. We must be wary of what is going to happen anyway, and there is nothing that I can do, attitude. Many will adopt this pessimistic way of thinking. It is the easiest in the short term, but doing so would continue to condemn everything that we know. As it was put by Sir David Attenborough, what humans do over the next 50 years will determine the fate of all of the life on planet. If we reach two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the risk to human life is much higher. Diseases such as malaria will spread much more quickly, food security will be volatile at best and economies across the world will suffer greatly, pushing yet more people into poverty. My home constituency was home to COP26. Nations from across the world met and agreed on statements around reducing carbon to net zero, achieving a just transition to green energy and protecting nature. No one nation can do this alone, but we can do our bit here at home. Glasgow City Council agreed that 2030 should be the target for bringing the city to net zero carbon emissions, and that is by no means a no mean feat. Our nation's largest city is home to many great and varied industries. Hundreds indeed, thousands of people commute into Glasgow on any given working day. Most arrive by car with recent figures showing nearly 70 per cent of people travel to work by car or van either as a driver or passenger. Glasgow has done and is doing much work to change people's attitudes and behaviour when it comes to moving around the city. We hear a lot about modal shift, be that moving people on to public forms of transport, such as rail, bus and subway networks, or encouraging people on to a more active travel path such as walking and cycling to work. As of June, Glasgow will be enforcing a low emission zone throughout much of the city. The chief aim of this is to reduce what has been extremely dangerous levels of air pollution, and two of the highest-recorded levels are, unfortunately, in my constituency of Glasgow Kelvin. No doubt, too, it will encourage some to consider taking other modes of transport into the city, helping us to reduce our commuter carbon footprint. However—I say this as an ardent supporter of any measure that will tackle the human impact on climate change—we must accept that, for many, using a car will remain the most appropriate mode of transport to work, such as those with mobility issues and people living in rural areas. Cars are and will remain a major presence on our road networks for some time to come, and we need to get even more creative about how we manage and reduce the impact that they have on our environment. A move to electric vehicles is an obvious answer, but currently too pricey for many people. Incentivising car sharing schemes may also alleviate the need for multiple cars on the road making the same or similar journeys. That is part of the answer to Glasgow's reaching net zero by 2030, but it is just part of it. Also included is home energy retrofitting, district heating, decarbonising industry, moving to hydrogen or electric transport and protecting growing natural solutions for carbon sequestration. All have major parts to play in Glasgow's journey to net zero. At this point, I would like to put on record my thanks and appreciation to our hardworking councillors in Glasgow, particularly Councillor Angus Miller, who chairs the Climate Glasgow Green Deal Transport and City Centre Recovery Committee. Councillor Miller and my colleagues are very much alive to the challenges that the 2030 target has before it, but we have shown a determination to get the work done, but that work does, however, come with a very high financial burden. Central Government has, to date, put its money where its mouth is, but more and much more will be needed to reach our 2030 targets. As I understand it, there are opportunities of tapping into alternative options of finance but not the appropriate structures in place available to enable local government to procure what they need at a fast pace to meet timescale demands. I would be grateful if in summing up, the cabinet secretary or minister could say more about what work the Government is doing to free up councils to work more flexibly with external partners to reach their climate goals. It's a no-brainer. Last year, parts of the UK were literally on fire. Let's not weather the storm, let's beat it. Thank you very much. Mr Stewart and I call Brian Whittle to be followed by Fiona Hyslop around six minutes, Mr Whittle. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm really grateful to be able to contribute to such an important debate. I want to start with a quote from the Scottish Government, a commitment from the Scottish Government. As we reduce our emissions and respond to changing climate, our journey is fair and creates a better future for everyone, regardless of where they live, what they do and who they are. Warm words, admirable targets, world-leading targets, we are constantly told. Of course, Deputy Presiding Officer, that's exactly what they are. Warm words and targets, without outcomes or a route map to those outcomes. As I've said many times before in this chamber, hitting those targets is absolutely crucial, because not to do so means that Scotland's contribution to keeping 1.5 alive will fall short. And honestly, if self-congratulatory statements about world-leading targets was a carbon negative activity, the Scottish Government would have already single-handedly decarbonised most of the developed world. So let's look at that commitment from the Scottish Government, a better future for everyone, regardless of where they live, what they do and who they are. Well, not if you live in rural Scotland where transport links continue to crumble, the ability to run an EV is incredibly problematic and a dearth of EV charging points, rail links and bus routes. However, Presiding Officer, I want to highlight the blue economy in the just transition route. This is the less unknown cousin of the green economy yet has more carbon contained within it and the ability to sequestrate carbon than the green economy does. Marine ecosystems worldwide store and cycle an estimated 93 per cent of the earth's CO2. Sea grass sequestration of carbon is 35 times faster than the rainforest. It also provides a fantastic renewable food source that must be managed properly if we are to maintain food security. However, the poor launch of the Scottish Government's HMPA consultation has highlighted the need to look at our blue economy with respect to a just transition in more detail. What we needed was direct consultation with communities and allowing local communities their say. It is obvious that coastal communities in the Scottish industry within the blue economy feel left behind and that the Scottish Government is not delivering on their promise of a just transition for them. It is disappointing that the Scottish Government did not take a more direct approach to consulting communities on policy and would directly impact their livelihood and viability. It is easy to see that an online consultation with online workshops was a poor choice for engagement. As our blue economy grows and new technology becomes available, Scotland's seas are under pressure for space, space for renewable energy, space for fisheries that minimise gear conflicts, space for aquaculture, including finfish, shellfish and the growing seaweed industry, space for shipping lanes and transportation, with 90 per cent of the world's goods traded on maritime routes, space for tourism and space for conservation. Industry, including tourism, fishing and aquaculture, NGOs and community groups have called for better spatial management plans that take advantage of local historic knowledge in better balanced industry and the need for conservation and nature-based solutions. Many of those stakeholders cite inadequate funding, unclear objectives and lack of data as key barriers to proper implementation of marine spatial planning. Much of the Scottish Government's current marine policy is driven by the Scottish Green Party ideology and misleading international comparators, rather than science-based evidence. The Scottish Government has admitted as much in response to portfolio questions, stating that it does not have the data to validate the policy choice but rather have policies based on, and I quote, how best we can develop policy in the absence of science and data. Similarly, Scotland's marine assessment 2020 explicitly stated that there is insufficient data to allow detailed assessment. That is no way to approach such an important legislation, legislation that can have such a significant and potentially detrimental impact on communities reliant on a robust and sustainable blue economy. The Scottish Government's guesswork is what is being offered. Developing HPMAs with very little evidence on their impact in temperate waters is not just ridiculous, it is hugely irresponsible. It is tempting to say that the SNP Government is all it sees on this issue, but that would require them to successfully build a boat. The warm words from the Scottish Government are increasingly looking like hot air. It is time that they stopped talking the dream and started living the reality, only then can Scotland make a meaningful contribution to keeping 1.5 alive. I welcome the cabinet secretary to her role. I want her to succeed, but to do so she will need to work very closely with the cabinet secretary for the wellbeing economy and energy. Mary McCallan seems to lead on energy demand, but Neil Gray seems to lead on energy supply. I am genuinely interested in how she will deliver a just transition without direct responsibility for the budget and the policy for the energy production, job supply, chain support, skills and the enterprise companies. Climate change is a global crisis, as is the global diversity crisis. Biodiversity and climate change programmes can support each other and must do so. A just transition matters to both global crisis, biodiversity and climate change. A just transition needs to be responsive and fair to local communities. As a committee member, I raised how you protected marine areas and concerns of the fishers of the Western Isles back on 14 March. Scotland's existing network of general marine protected areas already covers 37 per cent of our seas, and the new global COP 15 target is for 30 per cent of seas in effective management by 2030. A just transition is not just for energy and is not just for the north-east, which is why the Parliament's Economy Committee is carrying out an inquiry into what is needed for the Grangemouth Just Transition Plan. It is clear for the community, local businesses, briefly. Liam Kerr. I am listening very carefully to what the member is saying. I just wonder whether he can explain the logic of splitting out energy from the net zero portfolio, because it does not quite make sense, I do not think. I gave my view of that logic, but I am sure that the Government can explain it themselves. The inquiry that the member is also taking part in the Grangemouth Just Transition Plan makes it clear that communities, local businesses and workers need to be part of that just transition, and it needs to be on a place-based planning basis, and I hope that the cabinet secretary will find our recommendations when finalised helpful. The Grangemouth Transition Plan needs the approval and funding for the Acorn CCUS project, and despite every indication that it might be announced on the UK Government's Green Day, we have still yet to hear. Time is ticking, and not only Scotland but the UK needs this project to meet their net zero targets. Communities must be involved in the just transition. I welcomed that Blackburn, in my constituency, was selected as one of seven Scottish Government climate action towns. Blackburn community consultation showed that jobs and skills are the main issue, and I was hoping that whole-scale early heat pump installation, developing skills and jobs, would be a priority. I urged the cabinet secretary to drive momentum, energy and resource into climate action towns, so community empowerment results in action. We need to start delivering now at scale to transform heat and buildings, and we need construction and recognised qualified electrical engineers and electricians, so surely, at the very least, we should be starting with our climate towns now. On transport, bus services and semi-rural areas are reeling from lower than before Covid patchage numbers and a worsening shortage of drivers. I have villages in my constituency that will be effectively cut off from May due to changes in bus services, and we have yet to see West London Council's local priority routes for subsidy. The growing village of Winchborough has two secondary schools and a newly opened road junction on to the M9, but it currently offers no way of getting to work other than by car. We need buses and a rail station in Winchborough to meet the needs of commuters so that they do not resort to car use if we are to be serious about net zero. As Cabinet Secretary with overall transport responsibility, we need an effective bus and rail network if we want to reduce car use in commuting constituencies like mine. Innovation is also needed to tackle climate change. Energy is mainly a reserved power and funding area to Westminster, and I was pleased to learn that Invinity, based in Bathgate in my constituency, who manufacture utility grade energy storage systems, were recently awarded an £11 million grant from the UK Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero. That money will be invested to deploy a 30 megawatt-hours vanadium flow battery in Invinity already support energy storage from hydrogen in Orkney and are featured in the Scottish Government's draft energy strategy published earlier this year. The climate change committee has said that there is need for more new storage solutions beyond the simple use of batteries. Most critical is the use of surplus generation to produce hydrogen through electrolysis, through electrolysis, green hydrogen, providing long-term storage so that it can be later used to generate electricity. Scotland is extremely well-placed, but we must harness ourselves to hydrogen decisively and soon to do that. Exporting hydrogen also helps other countries to reach secure net zero, but it is not a UK Government priority. The climate change committee has also stated that in order to support the UK Government's target of up to 50 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, in the next seven years, it will have to install more than five times the amount of transmission infrastructure in England and Wales that has been built in the last 30 years. Grid transmission for power generated is key, which is why the net zero committee is currently examining our infrastructure needs and our inquiries how concerns about how the grid can meet the requirements of Scotland's renewable energy production. Scotland has the energy, we just need the power, and that power is independence to make Scotland a powerhouse for its people with available, affordable renewable energy. The IPC report also makes clear that all Governments have to make major changes and the UK had to do this and was forced to publish their powering up Britain strategy after the High Court judged last July that its current plan was not detailed enough to deliver. The Scottish Government's own revised climate change plan due later this year must have deliverables as the audit report has set out this week, not just targets and aspirations, or it will also lay itself open to challenge. I trust my priorities for the cabinet secretary are clear. I look forward to working with her and also for her response. Richard Leonard, to be followed by Jackie Dunbar, is around six minutes. I remind members of my register of interests. The Scottish Government's own just transition commission is a very measured, rather moderate group, but even it felt compelled to write to the minister responsible for just transition just a few weeks ago. In their letter, they pulled no punches. Addressing inequalities, they said, should be a core strategic objective of just transition. There should be an audit of who benefits, of who pays, which groups in society will pay more and which groups will pay less. They called for co-design and meaningful engagement, a stable and settled workforce, which they said demands a step change in skills, credible roadmaps and an investment prospectus and plan. You can hear their growing impatience and their rising exasperation that, four years on, from the Government declaring a climate emergency, they are still having to ask, and I quote, how existing constraints to financing skills and workforce capacity can be addressed. No wonder their patience is running out, and it's not only the just transition commission, it's the audit commission too. The audit of general's new report out just today is scathing about this SNP green government. Let me quote him. The Scottish Government does not routinely carry out carbon assessments or capture the impact of spending decisions on its carbon footprint in the long term. The Scottish Government does not assess how far the policies outlined in the climate change plan update will contribute to net zero. The Scottish Government does not know how much the policies proposed in the current climate change plan update will cost, but what everyone in the country knows is that there are choices to be made and they know that these are not technological choices, they are political choices because the path that we must follow is not about technocratic fixes and scientific solutions, it's about what type of society we live in, it's about how we live and how we might live and it's about how we overturn the deep divisions of class which hold us back. It is a choice about whether we help the weak or the strong, whether we plan our economy or rely on the market, whether we deal simply with the effects of the current economic system or whether we set about changing the current economic system. Those are the choices the government must make. On Tuesday, the new First Minister arrived in Parliament with a document under his arm entitled New Leadership, a Fresh Start. He spoke of trade unions and of fair work, declaring that we will take the workers of the north-east with us on our just transition journey. As we've heard on Wednesday, the new cabinet secretary for net zero and just transition visited Ineos in the morning and fourth ports in Grangemouth in the afternoon to meet, I quote, with key stakeholders. The cabinet secretary met with senior managers from Ineos, Ratcliffe's people and did meet the trade union representatives at Ineos, but did not meet the trade unions at fourth ports. This afternoon, let me warn the new cabinet secretary not to pander to the Jim Ratcliffe of this world, who, as well as still wanting to frack across the central belt of Scotland, now wants to build a nuclear reactor right in the middle of Grangemouth. Let me warn her that a just transition which really is just means that we do not pander to those vested interests, but rather we take them on. Those whose only interest is in making money and the quick profit. A just transition which really is just means that we will tilt the balance of power in the economy in a new and better direction. There will need to be a whole system change, a decisive shift, a new kind of economy which includes public ownership not least in energy. It will need to be bold, bolder than we imagine, because in truth I do not think we will be accused by future generations of going too fast or of taking people by surprise. I think that we will be accused of going too slow, of nibbling away at the problem and of not being decisive enough. William Morris wrote in a dream of John Ball, hard it is for the old world to see the new. We do want an earthly paradise, why not? We should be drawing on the great unused reservoir of human talent and potential. Why not? We are world citizens with an obligation as well as a right to speak out because our common humanity should unite us. Why not? We can change the fundamental relations of power in the economy and in production through radical and rational reform. Why not? But all of that requires not only vision, it also demands leadership. It cries out for urgent government action and in the end it must be based on an understanding that these things will not happen spontaneously. They will not naturally evolve and certainly not under the logic of capitalism we will have to plan for them. An understanding that this is not just an economic, an environmental, an ecological, a social and a political imperative, it is a moral one as well. Presiding Officer, as a member of the NZ Committee, I am pleased to speak in this debate this afternoon and I would like to take the opportunity to welcome the new cabinet secretary and the new minister for energy to their new roles. The SNP Scottish Government has demonstrated that it is committed to tackling climate change and delivering a just transition. This is crucial in the face of the global climate and nature emergencies. In the Scottish Government's policy prospectus, the cabinet secretary working with the cabinet colleagues has committed that by 2026 the Scottish Government will have driven down Scotland's green house gas emissions further. Our new climate change plan will clearly set the pathways to achieving Scotland's world leading commitment to be net zero by 2045. We have set out its plan for building resilience to the impacts that climate change is having and will increasingly have on communities and businesses in the adaptation programme. We have co-developed a series of just transition plans in support of and together with sectors and communities most affected by the net zero transformation and delivered direct support through our 500 million just transition fund. We have also consulted on net zero conditionality for significant public sector investment, including proposals to support. Those are important steps and I want to focus my contribution on the just transition, not least because of the need to have a fair and just transition away from a complete reliance on North Sea oil and gas. Scotland has taken lasting action to secure a net zero and climate resilient future in a way that is fair and just for everyone. The latest emissions data for 2020 shows that Scotland's emissions are down by well over 50 per cent since the 1990 baseline over half way to net zero. Action being taken now will deliver significant emission reductions in years to come. The transition will require a truly national effort from all sectors of the economy, including significant private sector investment in net zero and climate resilience to ensure the long-term strength and competitiveness of our economy. The Scottish Government has been clear that a just transition is an opportunity to go beyond delivering our very necessary climate goals, to bring a nationwide cross industry transformation to build a greener and more equal Scotland. The national just transition planning framework sets out how the Scottish Government will work with others to manage the economic and social impacts. I welcome the Scottish Government's commitment to developing just transition plans across sectors and regions, beginning with the Scottish Government's draft energy strategy and just transition plan that was published in January 2023. The first £20 million of the Scottish Government's just transition fund for the north-east in Moray was identified as part of the 2022-23 budget. I welcome some further information from the cabinet secretary on how the fund will specifically address employment transition within the north-east, including for my constituents in Aberdeen-Donside. It is interesting to note that the UK Government's own green jobs task force recommended that it set out how it will match support available through the EU's just transition fund. That has still not been acted upon. The UK Government has refused to match the Scottish Government's £500 million just transition fund despite the £300 billion that has gone to the Treasury from the north-east oil since the 1970s. It is shocking, and I call on the UK Government to match the funding and take action in the face of a global climate emergency. We are transitioning to a net. I will take an intervention. I will make the same point about the 16 billion north-east transition deal. Does the member welcome that the UK Government has awarded £27 million to Aberdeen's energy transition fund to support the development of green energy? Jackie Dunbar and I can give you the time back. I am just fair for Fochan. He and to explain—sorry, that is a good old fashioned Doric word for being exhausted—to Mr Kerr, having to say to him that money is money, and I am an Aberdeinion, and I am always going to appreciate any money that we can, but I would ask Mr Kerr if he can go and ask his UK Government if he can get some of the £300 billion back. That would exceedingly be helpful as well. We are transitioning—I am sorry about the shocked look that you just had on your face until I explained what my Doric word was. We are transitioning to a net zero emissions Scotland for the benefit of our environment, our people and our prosperity. We also need to adapt and build resilience to the impacts of climate change alongside our actions to reduce emissions. The Scottish Government is committed to ending its contribution to climate change in a way that is fair and leaves nobody behind. The actions needed to become net zero by 2045 will transform all sectors of our economy and society and will require rapid structural change. In Scotland, we have seen how unplanned structural changes in the past have left intergenerational scarring and deprivation, most notably in our former coal mining communities. Our transition to net zero must be managed differently and, if we plan ahead and act, ending our contribution to climate change presents a unique opportunity to improve the collective wellbeing of our nation. Everyone, including those working in oil and gas, must be engaged with and be brought on board. The Climate Change Act 2019 embeds the principles of a just transition. That means that, as we reduce our emissions and respond to a change in climate, our journey is fair and creates a better future for everybody. Regardless of where they live, what they do and who they are. In closing, I again welcome the debate and the steps that will be taken in Scotland's just transition. If we all work together, we will reach our net zero goals. I welcome the cabinet secretary and minister to their new roles, and I look forward to our joint work ahead, particularly on the forthcoming climate plan. It is clear that no Government anywhere in the world has responded to the climate emergency with either the scale or the speed needed to keep to the promise of 1.5. Our current climate plan in Scotland is not on course to meet the 2030 targets, so the next plan must bring in fresh thinking, especially on delivery. As a former committee convener, Sarah Boyack will remember the conclusions of this Parliament's first ever climate change inquiry back in 2005, when, as a committee, we recommended a radical response on a huge, almost unprecedented scale must start to be entrenched in policy now. That report recommended actions, including a call on ministers to develop and introduce road user charging by 2015 at the very latest. That was a unanimous cross-party support. Some of its members went on to join government, others spoke to people for their parties in the years that followed, yet the inability of this Parliament to lead a consensus on necessary measures, like road user charging, saddens me. As soon as even moderate measures, such as workplace parking levies or even a deposit return scheme, are proposed, they are kicked around as political footballs. Where did that cross-party desire for a radical response on a huge, almost unprecedented scale go? It always gets lost in a short-term game of political calculus. Opposition from any quarter is seen as creating an insurmountable crisis, and calls are then made for policies to be abandoned, watered down, and then ministers, of course, have to be moved on. That then chills the political ambition for new progressive ideas to be brought forward that are desperately needed to tackle the crisis. The Parliament that brought in the smoking ban, the plastic bag tax and even the abolition of section 2A is in danger of becoming cautious and cow-towed. As Edwin Morgan said at the opening of the very building, a nest of ffirties is not what the people want, nor do they want a symposium of procrastinators. I am saddened because if Governments in Scotland and the UK had acted together with the scale of ambition outlined in that 2005 report, we would be in a very different position today. Instead, in 2023, we must pick up the pace dramatically in order to make up for nearly two decades of lost ground. Step changes are needed, which means breaking with policies that were damaging the climate in 2005 and continuing to do so in the years that followed. If we prioritise road-building projects and increase vehicle mileage, it will break our climate targets while emptying our transport budgets. If we allow air miles to increase, it will wipe out the climate gains made by reducing the cost of public transport or increasing cycling. If farming, upland management and fishing are not radically reformed, we will continue to release thousands of tonnes of carbon from our soils and seabeds every year. If we push on with maximum economic recovery of oil and gas, it will delay the just transition and result in a dangerous and unmanaged collapse of jobs in the years ahead. The pathways to energy transition are now getting clearer by the day. Commissioned as a result of the house agreement, the independent just transition review of the Scottish energy sector is a genuinely groundbreaking and extensive study by world leading experts. It does inform the energy strategy and is a rare example of an oil and gas-rich nation recognising both the challenges and the opportunities of transition, rather than pretending that business as usual is a viable option. I recommend that members look at the study, because the study examines in depth at how North Sea oil and gas production will decline, regardless of Government policy and how undeveloped reserves will become increasingly hard to exploit. There is simply no return to the oil and gas boom, no matter how hard some members wish for it. The study shows us that there is a viable route to meet our Paris commitments and protect jobs, but that will not happen by itself. It requires brave, bold and early investment and policy intervention to power the transition, and perhaps that is a point where I do sense from all contributions that there is a consensus in the Parliament on the need to get that specificity, on the need to get those investment plans ready. That is about harnessing the opportunities that we have in Scotland to win renewable hydrogen supply chains for electrification, creating jobs that are lasting, secure and fulfilling for generations to come. This is about a green transition also rooted in justice. Trade unions and workers need to be at the heart of discussions about a just transition and for us to aspire for better conditions for all, not just for more of the same. That is rightly about bringing communities with us. While I am optimistic that the new energy strategy can set the right level of ambition, what is needed on the back of it are those detailed, grounded plans for transition that are rooted in communities. If I have time, I will. I very much appreciate Mark Ruskell taking that point. I want to totally agree with him that the issue is that we know that community energy schemes do work, but we need the support for local authorities and the leadership to actually make them happen, so is that something that you think we should be pushing harder on? Mark Ruskell Absolutely. The starting point of local heat and energy efficiency strategies that councils are working on right now will create opportunities for communities to actually own their own energy as well, to create an energy generation revolution that will be in our communities that are owned by communities themselves. That is a surprise, but it cannot happen without government intervention, it cannot happen without that drive and leadership that Mr Harvey is listening and nodding away at my back here. However, we need those site-specific just transition plans for sites like Mossmorran as well. It is great the work that is happening with Grangemouth to develop the site-specific plan there, but we need to go further and faster. We cannot leave any communities behind right now. In finishing, back in 2005, we promised to meet the challenge of the climate crisis by standing together as a parliament and taking bold action. I still believe that green affair future is possible, but we have a responsibility in this place to work together to achieve that. That is the challenge that brought the Greens into government. We look forward to working with all the MSPs who share that spirit. I now call Willie Coffey to be followed by Maurice Golden around six minutes. Mr Coffey, the plans and strategies laid out by the Government are certainly ambitious for Scotland, as they should and must be if we are to achieve our ambitions for 2030 and 2045. Running alongside those plans are the views and recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change, which are certainly robust and challenging. Of course, I will audit Scotland to in the report just this morning. Let us not forget that no matter what we all do, we cannot do any of it without taking our communities along with us on the journey. Mark Ruskell made that point just a second or two ago. We are talking about major changes now to the way people live their lives, how and where they work and, crucially, how they move around this wonderful country to go about their business. That journey is well under way and credit is due to the efforts of many in government, in industry and at home, too. Emissions are down by over 50 per cent since the 1990 baseline, and we are over halfway to net zero. However, it has to be said that the Committee on Climate Change tells us that the pace of change must accelerate and that, currently, we are not on track to make the kind of systemic changes that are required for the next half of this journey. I know that it might be hard to believe that, having run a couple of marathons myself, Presiding Officer, I know that the first half is comfortable enough, but we all know that it is the last miles that take the most effort and make the most difference. The Climate Change Committee's opening comments on the report are encouraging enough when it said that the 2020 interim targets were met, but they were also quick to point out that the travel restrictions during Covid probably helped us over that particular line. It is also surely fair to say that Covid also hampered progress in some of the key areas that we wanted to achieve. One of the recurring messages in the report is that we need to quantify the delivery plans that set out the details of how we are to achieve the various targets that we are setting, a point that is repeated by Audit Scotland and recognised and accepted by the Scottish Government. On the issue of reducing car kilometre miles by 20 per cent by 2030, I had a look at the draft route map for this. It looked detailed enough to me, 50 pages or so backed up by more analysis, and it had a number of ingredients in there that are recognised already in place and are on the way, like extending free bus travel, establishing low-emission zones in our cities, investment in the rail network. The latest announcement to remove peak rail fares from October are helping and will help even more to coax people away from their cars and onto the buses and trains and are happy to give away to them. I appreciate Willie Coffey's intervention. I just wanted to intervene on the issue of bus services, because I agree that the transport emissions went down during Covid with so many of us staying at home, but we now have an issue that there are less bus services for people to use. Do not we need to make that a real political priority right across the country so that people have a choice and they have decent bus services that they can use? Willie Coffey, I agree with that. It is going to take time to get back to even like the normal levels of bus issues, but we have to do everything that we can to encourage it. I am no expert, so I am wondering what the route map still requires in terms of the CCC's view of it. If it is to quantify the impact of the measures as we go along, then fair enough, and perhaps the cabinet secretary might say a wee bit more about that in the summing up. When you look at the process of hastening the transition to electric cars from diesel and petrol, I can see some contradictions in there that could actually be confusing to the public. On the one hand, we want people to transition to electric cars, but on the other hand, we want them to not use them and to switch to the bus and rail instead. Which one is it that Governments are asking the public to embrace? A significant event took place in Ireland just in the last few weeks, where sales of electric cars have now exceeded sales of diesel cars for the first time ever. The Irish Government still offers 5,000 euro on new EV car purchases, and that kind of intervention has been significant in achieving that. The number of electric cars that I saw in Dublin last week was huge and far exceeded what I have seen in Glasgow and Edinburgh, so Government intervention can mirror that impact at the most difficult phase of our net zero journey. I would like to reserve probably my last observation about the railways and their part in helping us to tackle the effects of climate change. How can we expect to deliver a rail service fit for people in the 21st century on a rail track network that still looks much the same as it did in the 19th century? It takes far too long for people in my constituency to get to places in Glasgow in a reasonable time and in reasonable comfort. The current train journey takes longer than the steam train did in the 1940s. As for travelling to Edinburgh, the network makes that an almost impossible task, since it needs to change trains and stations to get there, and it still takes over two hours to travel 60 miles. That is not good enough, I think, and it will ultimately hamper our progress to net zero if we do not solve these problems to meet the needs and expectations of the modern traveller. Let's see if we can build on all of these plans. Take on board the recommendations from all colleagues who want to achieve the same end and to fully meet the needs of local people that we serve. If we do that, we can look forward to the successful transition to net zero that Scotland and the rest of our planet so badly needs. Thank you. Thanks, Deputy Presiding Officer. Just last month, the IPCC delivered the final part of its sixth assessment report, calling for urgent action to avoid irrevocable damage to our environment. Or, as the UN Secretary General put it, our world needs climate action on all fronts, everything, everywhere, all at once. That certainly rings true here in Scotland, where we are sadly behind in taking the action needed. The latest circularity gap report shows that the UK economy is 7.2 per cent circular, which is above the global average. However, Scotland is trailing far behind with the circular economy score of just 1.3 per cent. In other words, 98.7 per cent of the resources that we use are from virgin sources, a statistic that should deepen concern given that the SNP had 16 years to build a circular economy. In all sincerity, I want to say to both the new cabinet secretary and the new First Minister, let's do better. A good start would be to introduce circular economy buying standards for the public sector, match that up with promoting better product design to bake in reuse from the start, and we can drive forward a market for reusable, repairable and refurbished goods. If you want to know what that looks like in practice, look no further than ACS clothing in North Lanarkshire, there at the forefront of renting, repairing and reusing clothes, all while providing high-quality jobs to both new entrants to the workforce, those reskilling and those looking for another chance in life. In other words, an example of the just transition that we want to see across Scotland. In fact, textiles are a particularly important issue. Zero waste Scotland report makes up 4 per cent of household waste but accounts for almost a third of household waste emissions. The Scottish Government response has been to abolish the textiles programme, reinstate it, abolish it again and then launch a textiles fund, which at the time was not available for anyone to apply for. We can go even further, though, by supporting farmers to grow native fibres for our textiles industry. It is an area that the Scottish Government has not shown enough interest in. It does not even know how much Scottish wool is used in textile manufacturing. Support must be ramped up beyond the textiles innovation fund to create a thriving closed-loop industry, one that has a sustainable environmental footprint, which helps to secure rural economies. The last point being especially important in securing a just transition for communities beyond the central belt. There is an opportunity for plastic too. Just 2 per cent of plastic waste is recycled in Scotland. Let's get a new facility in place, improving our recycling capability, keeping valuable resources within Scotland and even attracting recycling businesses from elsewhere. We should also consider system design. For example, the development of streaming platforms made materials associated with DVD players and DVDs redundant. Sadly, the Scottish Government has done nothing in this space, despite my call to link education, academia and business in exploring circular economy design principles. That ability for environmental policies to generate jobs and wealth offers a huge opportunity, but we must be careful that we will not miss out on it. Such as with renewables, where not every community can host a project, which is why I have championed renewable energy bonds to allow Scots to invest in and reap the rewards of our £5.6 billion renewables sector, regardless of where they live. Yesterday, the First Minister said that the SNP not only talked the talk on climate change. He claims that they are walking the walk, but the evidence says otherwise. Seven out of 11 emissions targets failed, waste incineration more than tripling since 2011, failing to deliver their renewable heat target, promising 30,000 green jobs by 2020, then delivering marginally over 20,000, and the 2013 household recycling target that still has not been met a decade later. That is not point-scoring. Others have raised concerns, too. The Fraser of Allander Institute points out that, despite declaring a climate emergency, there are no clear signs of this emergency affecting internal government processes in any serious way. A point reinforced by today's report from Audit Scotland, which found that key elements of good governance were either missing from the Scottish Government's climate change governance arrangements or are used irregularly and inconsistently. That same report also makes clear that the Scottish Government cannot achieve net zero target and adaption outcomes alone. I say to the new cabinet secretary that let's work constructively to avoid more failures and deliver the just transition to net zero that we all want to see. We now move to closing speeches. I call on Mercedes-Benz-Benz to wind up on behalf of Scottish Labour up to eight minutes, please. The Scottish Government motion that we have been debating today asks us to recognise that the draft energy strategy and just transition plan sets out a just and fair pathway to maximise the opportunities of that transition. The consultation for this draft plan has not yet closed, and the Scottish Government has already come under sustained criticism for the inadequacy of its plans. As highlighted by my colleague Richard Leonard in today's debate, the Government's own just transition commission are frustrated with the pace and detail of the Scottish Government's plans. So, Presiding Officer, Labour cannot support this motion today, and instead we urge members across the chamber to support our amendment. In opening today's debate, the cabinet secretary acknowledged the importance of avoiding another betrayal of workers of the scale seen during Thatcher's attack on miners. Yet recent independent analysis on the Scottish Government's own energy system transition plans raised major concerns about the need for rapid development of domestic jobs to ensure communities are not devastated by an unjust transition, not least in my constituency of the north-east, which has 98 per cent of direct oil and gas jobs. Although Scotland already has a significant share of Europe's onshore and offshore wind capacity, we are hardly manufacturing any of the infrastructure for them here in Scotland. Consecutive reports and analysis make clear that Scotland must develop domestic supply chains or that our community's wealth will be piped abroad just as our oil is. The risk to communities like those in the north-east is huge, and yet the Government repeatedly leaves those workers and communities out of its plans despite claiming to include them in its motion today. The reality is that it is taking environmental organisations, like Friends of the Earth Scotland, to draw up transition demands through their Our Power consultation. Workers have told us that they want public investment in energy companies, safety, security and fair pay across the industry to enable them to move from oil and gas into renewables. The Scottish Government must commit to working with the workers in those industries who make up the communities' most at risk in this time of change to be led by their needs. I am happy to take an intervention from the energy minister. I am very grateful to Mercedes Villal, but it is not true to say that its environmental organisations are the only ones who have been engaging with workers. I had a survey out myself when I was back bencher, and the Scottish Government had a survey out as well, which actually had a tremendous response. A great deal of work has been going on to engage with workers as well with unions. Those consultations turned into action for workers. In addition to the lack of urgency around protecting communities from economic collapse, the Government is consistently over-promising and under-delivering on climate change and biodiversity improvement measures. My colleague Sarah Boyack highlighted the UK Committee on Climate Change's concerns around Scotland failing to meet targets, especially around peatland restoration and protection, which the Government does not mention in its motion. Peatlands are an essential carbon sink, as well as a site of biodiversity, so I welcomed the First Minister's promise on Tuesday that he will deliver 110,000 hectares of restored peatland, but this is less than half of what the Government promised only two years ago when they pledged a quarter of a billion pounds to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030. This downgrading of the promise on peatlands comes after we found out in January that the Government had achieved only 28 per cent of its annual goal of restoring 20,000 hectares in the year 2021-22. That comes after the Government inflated their own figures by 40 per cent, underestimating their own shortcomings until NatureScot corrected them. Peatlands should be offering substantial carbon capture, improved habitats for our native wildlife, resilience to extreme weather and vital green jobs. Yet, according to the Government's own figures, 80 per cent of our peatlands are damaged. NatureScot has also shown that many of our native species still struggle as they face the combined effect of biodiversity loss and climate change. The average abundance of our 2,803 marine and terrestrial species are still well below historic figures and continue to be damaged by extreme weather, habitat loss and scarcity of food. We all know that our natural environment is a complex ecosystem with interdependent parts. That means that there are significant knock-on effects of the Government's failure to improve our native biodiversity, our habitats such as the peatlands and our air and water quality. All of those must be rapidly addressed to ensure Scotland meets its ambitious targets on the climate and environment. It is positive that the Government's Scottish Biodiversity Strategy announced last year promises to reverse biodiversity loss by 2045. That is an ambitious target. If met, it would have a significant effect across Scotland. Given the consistent inability to keep its promises, it is hard to have confidence that biodiversity targets will not go the way of the peatlands. That is a great dream but far from reality, so what we now need is not more promises but action. Action to address the current and future challenges facing our communities, our habitats and our climate. Labour agrees with the Government on the urgency of the climate crisis as well as the need to make sure that the transition to a net zero future is just. We will always work constructively cross-party to achieve the change that Scotland needs. However, today's self-congratulatory motion from the Government will not help us to meet our goals. It does not bring clarity on the Government's approach and it does not instill confidence that the SNP is the party to guide the country through the challenges ahead. I urge all members to support the Labour amendment, which strengthens this Parliament's commitment to an urgent and whole-hearted tackling of climate change to ensure that all communities of Scotland are brought with us on this transition. I now call on Alexander Stewart to wind up on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives. I am grateful for the opportunity to close the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives and I will be supporting the amendment in the name of Liam Kerr. There is no doubt that each party in this Parliament views the climate emergency with the importance it deserves. How we achieve a truly just transition over the coming years and decades is an issue where there is far more disagreement. There are several areas of the Government's net zero plans, which we still see and will require more detail. However, when it comes to those issues, a just transition, perhaps the biggest issue that we have is with the reference to skills. In the December report, the Climate Change Committee stated that the ability to shape our workforce to meet the skills demands is just transition will be one of the biggest factors in our ability to deliver net zero. Indeed, the Government's motion is right to talk about the importance of a highly skilled workforce and of reskilling and attracting new talent to Scotland. The Government's climate emergency skills plan does at least attempt to set out how that could be and might be achieved. At this stage, those plans are not yet fit to tackle the huge skill challenge that we are just over the horizon, some of which we already have heard about today in this debate. If we take the UK offshore energy sector workforce, for example, we know that around 20 per cent of the workforce is currently involved in the low-carbon energy sector. By 2030, that is projected to increase to about 65 per cent of the total workforce. That is despite the fact that the total workforce is expected to increase from 160,000 to 200,000 over the same period. With around half of the workforce being based in Scotland, it is clear that reskilling and retraining will need to take place on a large scale. The onus is therefore on the Scottish Government to engage and ensure that the energy skill alliance will continue to advise on what skills and sectors will need in the long term. We also know that there are thousands of jobs in sectors such as construction and transport for which reskilling will be required. On the issue of construction industry, it has warned that it is still lacking in confidence and needs more time to fully invest in the workforce that takes place. Within the transport sector, the climate emergency skills planning knowledge that some of the retraining requires will be a baseline skill that can be made available through colleges. Following years of under-investment in colleges, the sector now requires further support in order to deliver a key role that is being asked of it when it has not got the ability and has had things happen in the past that have been detrimental to that sector. Those are just some of the outstanding issues that need to be dealt with in order for just transition to take place. I would like to talk about some of the contributions that we have heard this afternoon in the debate. My colleague Liam Kerr spoke about green jobs and the ability to deliver those green jobs, but the Government must be able to set out what it will provide. We all want green jobs. We see the benefit of those green jobs, but we already know that we are still behind the ball and behind the curve when it comes to producing those green jobs. Working with our oil and gas sector will be only one way of ensuring just transition, but we need to work with that industry and, without working with that industry, that will not be achieved. I absolutely welcome the focus on skills, and I agree that the provision of jobs for the future is absolutely essential. I would just take the opportunity to point the member in the direction not of Scottish Government figures but of EY independent analysis, which set out that by 2050 we could be looking at circa 25,000 jobs in offshore wind, just under 8,000 in onshore wind, 2,000 in hydropower and nearly 2,000 in residual profession. I thank the cabinet secretary for the intervention. We know that we need to have a plan, and it is good to see that there are issues coming forward. However, if we do not have the workforce and we do not have the skill there already, we will not achieve the targets that we are expecting to be there. Brian Whittle spoke about a warm words and talked about the targets that are being set by the Scottish Government. Rural Scotland does not have the network available for its transport. That is missing out already from the process. There is a poor launch of the blue economy, Mr Whittle talked about. Scotland's seas are under pressure. Industry wants better blue balance when it comes to that. There is a lack of data, funding and priorities. Maurice Golden spoke about us being behind in the action needed. Scotland needs to do better. I agree that Scotland needs to do better. Better priorities, better decisions and better ways going forward. We need to be on the front foot when it comes to reskilling, not on the back foot. He touched on the industries that require textiles. Farmers need support in some of those to ensure that that happens. Plastic needs to do better. The system design could be much better, so jobs and wealth are possible, but it is only there if we get the targets to make them happen. It is much more to be done in order to ensure that Scotland achieves its climate targets and adjusts transition. However, warnings have already been made from all directions. The Fraser Vanden Institute has talked about and highlighted that, without significant changes within the Government process, it will be insufficient. The Audit Scotland has highlighted in its report key elements of good governance are missing from the Government's climate change governance arrangements. From our committee, we have talked about that there is no clear delivery plan for how to achieve the net zero targets. All of that is set out very clear. We are talking about how we achieve targets. If we truly want to make sure that just transition, we cannot afford to leave people and communities behind. In conclusion, it is time for us to be bold with words and stop talking about evidence. We need solutions. It is also talking about the practical realities of making sure that we still have to invest in oil and gas. They still require to ensure that there is a transition. Only then can the Government have the plan that the Scottish public will truly be able to come on board with. Industry needs support. Rural communities need support. The Scottish Government has the potential. We already know that, but it is Scotland that may lose out because the Government has not got the will and the drive to achieve them. I now call on Minister Julian Martin to wind up the debate on behalf of the Scottish Government around nine minutes. It has been a debate that has made clear how much potential a just transition to net zero can unlock for Scotland's economy and people. We have heard criticisms throughout all the speeches today, but we have also heard examples of where the just transition is already happening across Scotland. It could have been a range of ministers responding to the debate. I will show you the Scottish Government's approach. We could have had somebody from transport, housing and a range of ministers who have net zero in their portfolio and just transition. We are all feeding to one another. I am glad that it is me, because I am obviously going to concentrate on energy, as I think that you would expect me to from our first speeches as a minister. Scotland is our renewable energy powerhouse, and it has the potential with our rich natural resources—highly skilled workforce and the expertise to transform our economy from one run in fossil fuels to one run on renewable energy. It is crucial that we seize this moment. I agree with Sarah Boyack that she said that we cannot make a decade. I would say that this decade—actually, this next seven years—are absolutely crucial. It is not just 2045—we are looking at it—it is 2030. That is where the most strenuous targets are. That is where we have to make the most inroads. To do that, we are all going to have to collaborate with one another. I think that within this chamber, although we may disagree on quite a lot of how to get there, we all did vote for the climate change bill—now act. We wanted that act, and the targets in that act, to go further. I totally agree with Mark Buskell in this that targets are one thing, but they are meaningless if there is not action behind them. When there is bold policies coming forward, I think that we all have to take a bit of responsibility to say, is this what is required, this bold decision, sometimes decisions that might take a wee bit of time to get people on board with, but they are actually going to get us to net zero. I totally agree with Mark on that. The path to net zero is not going to be straightforward at all. Nothing worth doing ever is. Those challenges will come with opportunities here in Scotland. We have a long history of rising to meet any challenges with hard work in innovation, and Scotland has been an engineering nation for centuries. We have always been able to pivot, and we will pivot again and again. We are pivoting from fossil fuels to renewables, as we have pivoted from mining and shipbuilding, but this time we are going to do it with a just transition that does not leave communities behind. That innovation and that hard work, I see it every day in my own constituency and my neighbour's constituency in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire at the forefront of a renewable energy revolution. We have the opportunity right now to ensure that we are the net zero capital of the world, but opportunities are going to stretch all over Scotland. Yes, I will. Brian Twiddle. Very grateful for the minister for taking intervention, and she talks about this crucial next seven years. Will she agree with me that the real innovators in seven years' time are still at school at the moment? It is really important that the real battleground that we look at is weaving the green economy into our education system, which we are still yet to do. I totally agree. I will not say that there is solely in our schools. I say that there is absolutely in our schools. We have got innovators that are working right now in the existing industries that we have got in sectors. We have got people in colleges. We have got people in universities. Of course we have got young people in schools, and we need to be given the signals as a Government of what kind of jobs that they need to be thinking about, skilling for, what kind of opportunities they need to take as they go into FE and HE and then into the workforce as well. It is a good intervention, and I completely agree. I want to turn to something that Fiona Hyslop mentioned. She is absolutely right. Just transition is not just for the north-east, and it is not just for energy. The tentacles of the just transition have to go right throughout Scotland. Even just in the last three weeks, I have been hearing examples of where things are happening in renewable energy outwith the north-east. It is not just about energy as well. It is about absolutely every single area in which we have to decarbonise. We have massive areas in Scotland where we have carbon intensive activity such as Grangemouth, for example. There has to be a just transition there as well. It is absolutely crucial. I want to mention some of the contributions that people have made. Again, I want to be positive and constructive. That is how I mean to go on. Liam Kerr ran through a list of companies that are based in the north-east. I hope that Liam Kerr will not mind me saying that he couched it in terms of oil and gas companies that think that they will not be there anymore. You have said things about being shut down, but those companies are diversifying into renewables. Just look at the Scot-1 round. Look at how the Scot-1 round attracted the collaborations between small and large companies, blue-chip companies and smaller companies. Their core business for decades has been in oil and gas, but they are not oil and gas companies anymore. They are energy companies who know that it makes business sense to move into renewables. They see their business being potentially a mix of everything as we transition. They see that the North Sea basin is a declining basin. Everyone sees that. They would be mad not to diversify. They have also got the transferable workforce as well. They are very well placed. I see it every day when I speak to those companies how they are pivoting to those new opportunities. Liam Kerr? I acknowledge the point. It is effectively reflecting what I was suggesting that we are now talking about energy companies. The problem that I was getting at is that if the Government, in its energy strategy, takes a position that says that there is no more exploration and production such that they are not getting money, revenue and development from their core business, that declines and therefore the transition might decline. Does she not recognise that that is an issue? The consultation is still open. Obviously, the draft that has been put has been researched, but it has to be a draft. We have to collaborate. I would say to absolutely everyone in the chamber that if you have views on the consultation, you have to participate in it. That is the only way that we are going to go forward as a Parliament in achieving that zero and getting a decent energy strategy. That chance is open to all of us. I would say that to absolutely everyone. I think that Mercedes Villalba kind of dismissed the draft, but it is a draft and we are here to improve things. We are here to work together and collaborate on ideas to make things better. Mercedes Villalba? The point is that environmental organisations have come up with very clear and tangible demands in consultation with workers. The Scottish Government likes to consult, but where is the substantive action? We have the draft transition commission for one thing. We have a range of policies. I am watching my time. I have a lot of people I want to mention. I want to mention co-cab Stuart. Minister, we have a few minutes to decision time. Excellent. If Glasgow can be a net zero city, I say to co-cab Stuart that that is an absolute game changer. I really applaud the work that they are doing there. She mentions air pollution. I think that one of the things—a little bit of a hangover from a previous job as a convener from health—I want to say is that investment in decreasing air pollution is investment in the nation's health. It is a preventative spend in the health portfolio area as well. I think that it is a really important point. I share a few on the Hyslops enthusiasm for hydrogen. She will have seen my very first visit to the hydrogen hub in Aberdeen. I am going to be making a lot more similar visits to hydrogen. I think that we also need to be very aware that it is not just the production of hydrogen that we need to be heavily involved in. I agree with her that we need to be looking at the manufacturing of electrolyzers so that we can actually be in a position to be exporting our hydrogen but also doing it in a way that we are actually—we have that supply chain as well in the manufacturing. I would say to Richard Leonard—it did seem a bit doom and gloom in terms of skills, but I would say—I have just mentioned to Richard Leonard—look to colleges. I will give an example of Forth Valley College, which has started doing great work in the area of the communities around Grangemouth in particular in upskilling and developing the skills of the young workforce for the future of what Grangemouth can become, particularly in hydrogen and also working with Falkirk Council. I do not have time. I want to mention some more people if that is okay. Jackie Dunbar. I would point you to the energy skills passport. You asked what is going to be done for the workers in your area. It has been done on-site. Of course, we have got an awful lot of oil and gas workers. Jackie Dunbar will be aware of the fact that I have done a lot of work as a backbencher on trying to get this energy skills passport to Richard. I have actually seen a prototype of it. It is one of those things that is going to be an absolute game changer for people in the high-carbon industries who are able to map their skills that they have already to new and emerging technologies. I want to say to Maurice Golden that it is not lost in me the issues that he raises around textiles as well. I would say that ACCS closing is such a terrific example. There are many examples on that, but it is a real growing entrepreneurial stream that we absolutely have to nurture. We estimate that there will be 77,000 jobs in the low-carbon energy sector in 2050, and that is up from 19,000 currently. Those jobs can absorb the 57,000 skilled oil and gas jobs but create a lot more. With a pivotal moment in Scotland's story, this is the decade or the seven years that I have said previously. This is our opportunity to build the foundations for stable and sustainable employment and prosperity for generations to come, with energy north-east at the heart but spreading those prosperous tentacles throughout the whole of Scotland. That concludes the debate on delivering on climate change and the just transition. It is now time to move on to the next item of business. I am minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 11.2.4 of standing orders that decision time will be brought forward to now. I invite George Adam Minister to move the motion. The question is that decision time will be brought forward to now. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. There are three questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is that amendment 8626.2, in the name of Liam Kerr, which seeks to amend motion 8626 in the name of Mariam Callan, on delivering on climate change and the just transition, be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed and therefore we will move to a vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.