 The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 2049 in the name of Marie Todd on Scotland's climate targets. The debate will be concluded without any questions. Would those members who wish to speak in the debate please press the request to speak buttons as soon as possible? I call on Marie Todd to open the debate up to seven minutes, please, Ms Todd. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is the first time I've had an opportunity to open a member's business debate since being elected in May. Climate change is one of the defining issues of our age. Although there may still be some doubters, the vast majority agree with the science. Just this morning, one of my staff texted me to say, it's the middle of December, it's 12 degrees in Shetland, I rest my case on climate change. This subject is a priority for me and it's vital to communities across the region that I represent. There are few nations that could claim to have embraced renewable energy with as much enthusiasm and success as Scotland. The Highlands and Islands, which I represent, is a rich source of renewable energy potential. Our seas contain half the UK's tidal resource and a quarter of the tidal resource in Europe. They also contain about 10 per cent of Europe's total wave resource. We have it all. We have plenty of wind all year round on shore and off and long days of sunlight on those few days that the wind might not be blowing. Renewables are a major source of industrial work in the Highlands and a help to sustain economic growth and employment. Scotland has the potential to be a world leader in this industry and because of the ambition and commitment of the Scottish Government, we are well on the way to being one. In the last decade alone, the total output of renewable energy has more than doubled and more than half of Scotland's electricity needs now come from renewables. The Highlands and Islands are home to a number of leading projects in renewable energy. In Orkney, the world's largest tidal turbine began trials in August and in Shetland power was exported to the grid for the first time from a pair of tidal devices. The world's largest tidal streamer A project, Mage N, is in the Pentland Firth and Burredale Wind Farm in Shetland holds the world record for the highest capacity of a wind farm. Making full use of our abundant natural resources will boost the region but good stewardship will also be vital. We live in a stunningly beautiful part of the country with abundant wildlife so of course we need to be careful and assess the impact of harnessing these assets with care and good science, we can do that. We all agree that a step change in our ability to generate low-carbon electricity is required and large-scale projects like the Beatrice Wind Farm in the Murray Firth will generate jobs at Nigg and boost the economy as well as contributing to that step change. Make no mistake, the greatest threat to our wildlife today is climate change. It's climate change which threatens our wildlife, not renewable projects, which is why the charities who commissioned this report are so supportive of renewable energy development. In terms of moving beyond renewable electricity, the Highlands and Islands have some really exciting projects in heat generation and in energy storage. In Shetland, star renewables is investing in renewable heat energy with loan funding from the Scottish Government. They are developing plans to add a large-scale seawater source, a heat pump, which will help to expand an existing district heating network. Thurso is home to the UK's largest lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant, AGM Batteries Ltd, with other Scottish partners that is creating the next generation of battery technologies for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. In Orkney, a hydrogen project is using tidal and wind power to produce fuel for the local ferry fleet. In the first phase, a harbour-based fuel cell will provide overnight power to the inter-island ferries, replacing diesel generation. Of course, fuel poverty is such a significant issue in the Highlands and Islands. We have lots of organisations working on energy efficiency, including the Kyl of Sutherland Development Trust, which has been working with Scottish Gas in advising people on energy efficiency. Improving energy efficiency and decarbonising energy is particularly challenging in rural areas. Given the scale of the problem of fuel poverty in my region, it is absolutely essential that any Government policy does nothing to worsen the situation. Scottish Renewable businesses are exporting their innovations globally, working in more than 40 countries around the world, in every continent except Antarctica, which is something that we can all be really proud of. An example of that, again, from my constituency, is the European Marine Energy Centre-based in Orkney. It has just been called upon for development of a wave and tidal energy industry in Nagasaki in Japan. However, there is growing concern in the industry that, without enough support, it will start to fall behind other world leaders. Recently, I spoke with Gareth Davis, the managing director in Aquatera, an Orkney-based company, which has been involved in the creation of marine energy projects in the United States, Chile, Japan, Colombia, Peru and Indonesia, all from the Highlands and Islands. I am quoting Gareth directly. Having seen the UK give away its leadership and ownership of wind technology, we said that we would not repeat the same mistake again, yet the UK is setting itself on a pathway to do just the same with marine energy. The UK has learned so much, achieved so much and benefited so much, yet Canada, France and Southeast Asia, Japan and China are set to reap the longer-term benefits. They say that making a mistake once is forgivable. To do the same again is stupidity. Orkney companies have travelled to over 20 countries around the world in the last nine months, seeking out work and opportunities to keep their staff in Orkney employed into the future. This is a direct impact of the UK Government's failure to set a fair and reasonable CFD framework for marine energy and island wind. We cannot afford to give away our position of leadership in the marine energy industry. To sum up, I welcome this report. It is a really valuable contribution to the debate. I know that the Scottish Government is carrying out its own detailed research to assess how best to achieve carbon reduction targets at the lowest cost of the economy. I look forward to the publication of the draft energy strategy and climate change plan in January. The Scottish Government's record speaks for itself. Under the First Minister's leadership, I know that the ambition remains high. That is why we are already committed to introducing a new climate change bill with higher targets. Ambitious targets have helped to drive innovation in the past, and I want to see ambitious targets drive them into the future. Maurice Golden is followed by Claudia Beamish. I congratulate Marie Todd on securing the debate. Climate change is a great challenge of our times. It is a threat that affects us all. It is a fight that requires a global response. I am proud that Scotland is playing her part as ever. We are punching above our weight and we are seeing some progress for our efforts. Emissions have reduced down almost a half since 1990, allowing Scotland's annual target to be met for the first time, with significant progress in the electricity and waste sectors. Alongside that reduction has been the Scottish Renewables Revolution. Take 2014, for example. Low-carbon renewables accounted for almost 40 per cent of Scotland's electricity, the highest anywhere in the UK. Scotland led the rest of Britain by producing almost a third of its renewable energy. Last year, the figures continued to improve with more than half of Scotland's electricity consumption coming. That is to be welcomed. Those successes should be recognised, but much more remains to be done. With 2020 fast approaching, it is only right that we lift our gaze towards 2030. Looking towards the next decade, there is much for Scotland to contend with in moving towards a low-carbon economy. Transport emissions account for more than a quarter of all Scottish emissions, and the dial has barely moved since 1990 in reducing them. The good news is that the tools that there are for us to use are here. Urban consolidation hubs, electric vehicles, better public transport and cycle superhighways. We must get serious on transport emissions if we are to continue to meet our targets, affect positive change and see emissions fall further. How we heat our homes is another issue hovering on the horizon. Heating consumed more than half of Scotland's energy output in 2014, yet barely more than 5 per cent of heating consumption was met by renewables last year. It is not more warm words from all of us that we need to heat our homes, but efficient, low-carbon heating networks. I recognise the pioneering work of star renewables based in Thornelly Bank in the west of Scotland, the region that I represent. Underpinning much of that is the need to be more energy efficient. Simply put, the most environmentally friendly energy is the energy that is not used at all. Our struggle against climate change will be made all the easier by investment in upgrading our homes to at least an EPCC rating. This will also help the poorest in our society to get out of fuel poverty. That has been made but the task is far from finished. We must continue to make the case to protect our environment, create opportunities for businesses and allow Scotland the chance to lead the rest of the United Kingdom. Let's make that case, let's look to 2030 and let's put our words into action. For bringing this debate to the chamber and to Ricardo Energy and Environment, WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB Scotland for their collaborative work on the energy of Scotland report. The report does indeed echo Scottish Labour's 2016 manifesto promise, an aspiration to generate 50 per cent of electricity, heat and transport demand from renewables by 2030. If we meet this target, we will be contributing robustly to meeting the future climate change targets and the report gives guidance on how to do so in a just and cost optimal way. Our current trajectory suggests mis targets in the distant future. Policies are simply too timid and progress too slow for some sectors, for instance, heat. I am passionate about democratic ownership as a model for energy and I want to focus on two examples from my own region, then look to Europe and ask the minister a question at the end, I hope, if I get that far in four minutes. In my region of South Scotland and the ministers as well, Gallow Water and the Mill Laid Society in the Scottish Borders are in the early stages of restoring sites in the Victorian Gallow Shields Water laids to generate electricity through low-head hydro technology. The project will develop a wealth of benefits to the town, including opportunities for community shares, connecting the community with energy generation and reinvigorating that part of the town's history. It would be a great trailblazer for other laids investing in hydro in Scotland. Another positive story from the community and renewable energy scheme can be found in Estelle Muir. The Upper Estelle development group is a community organisation working on regenerating the village primary school, installing high quality insulation, air source heat pumps, installing hut and also a solar PV installation kit. The emissions savings over 15 years will earn the group £2,500 a year, as well as a significant amount of COT to savings, a win-win situation. Last year, last week rather, time moves too fast, last week I attended a conference in Brussels focusing on just transition to the low-carbon economy. Of course, the development of transferable skills and the paying conditions of workers in the burgeoning renewable sector is part of this fairway forward. Another aspect of a just transition is fairness for communities. The Scottish Government and councils such as Edinburgh have supported community and co-operative ownership and involvement in sustainable energy through funding and advice. On the European mainland, that is sometimes termed energy democracy. There are many different models of community involvement, some more participatory than others. In Helsinki, the municipality has Finland's largest solar power plant hosted on the roof of a ski hall, whatever that is, and local residents can, I quote, order their own designated panels so that they can benefit from solar energy without having to make large investments. The mayor of the Pamplona city council states, I believe that people and communities should have the right to control their energy future, and he argues for more social justice and imploring people to be more than passive consumers. Can I ask the minister to tell the chamber in his closing remarks what research gathering capacity the Scottish Government has to collect and analyse information from Europe and beyond as we develop our own vision for an energy strategy, which is as inclusive as possible? Stuart Stevenson, followed by Mark Ruskell. Presiding Officer, may I start by wishing you a happy birthday? Thank you, Mary Todd, for securing this debate. It is always as well to get credit in with the Presiding Officer. It is just one of the rules in this place. I find myself agreeing with every single word that Maurice Golden said. I think that it was a very worthwhile contribution. I just gently encourage him and his Conservative colleagues, perhaps, in the light of that agreement, perhaps, to consider signing the motion from time to time, even if there is an SNP name on it. That is a political point, not particularly to be stressed. The key point is that the report that is the subject of today's debate makes a lot of critical points, critical to our economy, to renewable energy and fundamentally to climate change. Members will of course know of my personal engagement as the Minister for Climate Change who took the bill through in 2009. It is a very challenging bill, and it is fair to acknowledge that one of the areas that has already been a subject of debate is one of the areas where the challenge is greatest. That is heat, renewable heat. It is proving fundamentally more difficult than I think we imagined in 2009. That does not mean that we should ignore it because it is difficult. On the contrary, it is the difficult things to which we must now turn our attention. We do so based on the successes that we have had in other areas. Transport remains difficult, I absolutely accept. Let me just tell you a little story on that one. When I was minister, I went to the eco congregations meeting. It was in a rural area. We had people from all over Scotland who were enthusiasts for making groups, faith groups more ecologically friendly. I found a ready ear for the things that I had to say, and then I made the mistake of saying those of us, like myself, who live in a rural area, perhaps in transport. One of the things that we might think about doing is just co-ordinating with our neighbours our visits to the local towns to do our shopping. I can only describe what happened as all hairys broke loose. I used the word carefully, Presiding Officer, because it turned out that even in the most enthusiastic climate change adopters, to some extent, was for everyone else to do, not for them. I think that that is the big challenge. The challenge lies with the people and our persuading people to new ways of working. The UK has been doing reasonably well in the rankings, although it is going a little bit backwards at the moment. Scotland is a seventh-hundredth of the world's emissions, and it is broadly recognised as being one of the leaders, albeit that there are other areas of the world where, in certain respects, they are doing better to us. The leadership that we have displayed is being challenged by some of the policies on renewable energy from the UK, but I have hopes. I think that there is economic benefit from addressing climate change. We create new jobs. We reduce our long-term costs because, after all, the raw material for renewable energy is all but free once you have made the capital investment. I think that those are all things that we can all look at and hope that we can move forward on. For Scotland, of course, we have engineering skills, particularly in relation to offshore installations, that we can leverage across from our oil and gas industries into new offshore renewable energies. The first mover advantage is still there for us to grasp. I hope that this debate is a useful contribution, just as the paper that we are discussing today and the work of WWF Friendsworth has made a very excellent contribution to the issue of climate change. I look forward to listening to my colleagues' contributions. The Presiding Officer once again has a happy birthday. I have Mark Ruskell to be followed by Ruth Maguire. I associate myself with the celebratory remarks from Stuart Stevenson. I am not going to sing happy birthday to you, perhaps in this chamber later. I can also declare an interest as a sterling councillor. It is the second time in two weeks that we have debated the future direction of our energy policy and the importance of an all-energy target that encompasses heat, transport and electricity. There is a lot to unpack in this debate ahead of the launch of the energy strategy and the revised climate programme early next year. I thank Marie Todd for giving us all some welcome extra space to do that. I very much welcome the Energy of Scotland report produced by the environmental NGOs. I think that it reinforces the separate work conducted by Scottish renewables earlier this year, which also concluded that an all-energy target of 50 per cent by 2030 was a desirable yet achievable stretch target. Setting such a target would provide confidence and certainty in the way that our early targets on renewable electricity did for industry. Targets on their own are not enough, and I accept the points raised by the minister in last week's debate that researchers require surrounding the implementation of such a target. I hope that, with the final touches being made to the energy strategy, we will be nearing the end of that process rather than being stuck at the beginning. There is, of course, an element of chicken and egg. Set a target and innovation research development will flow, provided that there is the right regulatory planning fiscal regimes to underpin it. Do not set a target and the direction of travel is too uncertain for investment. We have a fantastic research base in Scotland and I pay tribute to organisations such as SMRU, Consulting and St Andrews, who have developed over many years a strong reputation globally for high quality marine mammal research. It is the work of organisations such as SMRU that can unlock barriers to progress and allow ambitious targets to take off. I think that, especially within the marine sector, which Marie Todd has already pointed out, is a vitally important sector that we do not lose the lead over. We should also recognise that innovation and research can also take place at the community level. I think that Claudia Beamish has already mentioned some excellent examples from the south of Scotland. There are some great examples of projects and approaches that have been developed over the last decade and I would like to pay tribute to Fintree Development Trust in my own region. Their work trailblazing, one of the first joint ventures between a wind farm developer and a community, was a long and at times a painful journey but its success has inspired many other community renewables groups around Scotland. Fintree has grown into a local energy system laboratory over the years, using the profits earned from the wind on the hill to reinvest in energy efficiency advice and renewable installations in the home. In fact, if you look at the weekly planning schedules for Stirling Council, as I do most weeks, there are fresh applications for air source heat pumps and biomass boilers and everything else every single week. The roll-outs of those embedded renewables in homes and businesses has been phenomenal but they have now gone a lot further piloting an electric car club, bringing a biomass fuel district heating scheme to a residential caravan park and developing one of the first schemes in the UK that will take electricity produced by ADA to small dairy and sell it directly to consumers under a local tariff. So grid constraints, financial constraints, fuel poverty and the need to build social capital in our communities can all be strong drivers towards the local energy systems of the future. I hope that the forthcoming energy strategy will recognise the huge potential of the role of social enterprises in delivering much more than just heat and light to consumers. Absolutely the point raised by Claudia Beamish, we need an energy democracy, an energy energy vendor, as they say, in Germany. How the utilities in off-gem can learn from these non-traditional business models will be important as we move towards a more decentralised and embedded energy system. We also need to consider how de-risking the development process for communities and allowing them greater access to assets such as land can help them to get a foothold in the energy marketplace. Presiding Officer, off-gen, we've already visited Finchry on a number of occasions and I'd like to conclude by inviting the minister to join me on a visit when time allows to see the multiple joined up approaches and benefits. There's also a community-owned pub. Rhythmic wire to be followed by Liam McArthur. I'd like to begin by congratulating my colleague, Mary Todd, on bringing her first members' debate on the very important subject of Scotland's climate change targets to the chamber. Like colleagues, I would also like to welcome the report by WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB Scotland, and its motivating findings about the potential of our renewable energy resources. As we all know, Scotland has been blessed with fantastic renewable energy potential, home, for example, to around a quarter of Europe's offshore wind resource. Not only that, but we've made tremendous strides in harnessing it, establishing our nation as an international example, indeed an inspiration when it comes to renewable energy. This year, for the first time ever, wind turbines in Scotland generated more electricity than we used in the whole of the nation on a single day. On the whole, Scotland now generates over half of its total electricity use from renewables, a 14 per cent increase on 2014 and representing 26 per cent of the total UK renewable energy that was generated in 2015. Neither is Scotland's prowess in renewables limited to those shores. Recent research has set out how a renewable energy expertise is in demand around the world, with Scottish businesses working in more than 40 countries and in every continent bar Antarctica. Wind Hoist, a crane company based in my constituency in Irvine, has installed more than 4,800 wind turbines across the globe, from South Africa and Morocco to Australia and Belgium. Leading by example at home and sharing expertise abroad, our renewable riches allow us to contribute to tackling climate change on a global scale. In addition, our renewables industry provides a valuable source of economic strength and employment. We've heard how figures from the ONS show that low-carbon industries and their supply chains in Scotland generated a turnover of almost £11 billion in 2014 and supported 43,500 jobs. My constituency of Cunningham South is home to renewable energy specialist Pronto Port, whose supply consultancy, engineering support and maintenance to wind farms across the UK. It consistently achieves turnover in excess of £2 million and employs 45 full-time staff. Pronto Port also run a world-class training academy in Irvine, which I recently had the pleasure to visit, and where I saw first-hand their expert training provision in practice. Clearly, great strides have been made and our approach to capitalising on Scotland's renewable energy must continue to be ambitious. The target to meet 100 per cent of our electricity needs from renewables by 2020 fits that bill, as does our shared resolve across most of the chamber to focus efforts on finding ways to convert our heat and transport energy supply to renewables over the years ahead. The suggestion of the report that Scotland has the capacity to produce 50 per cent of all energy from renewables by 2030 is an aspirational one, and we should always set our sights high. Ambition, however, must be matched by due diligence, by careful consideration of any unintended drawbacks for our plans and ambitions in other areas, in particular ensuring access to affordable energy and tackling the blight of fuel poverty, an issue that we recently debated here and whose severity was recognised across the chamber. I support the comments of the minister that the Government will not set any new targets until it has carried out the necessary research that will underpin them, and given consideration to the potential consequences that our climate change targets have for other important areas. At the same time, I welcome the minister's indication that close consideration of the report will inform the development of future targets, and I look forward to reading the draft strategy in the early new year. Not just securing the debate but choosing the subject for her inaugural members' debate is, as she said, very much at the heart of what the Hannies and Islands region is all about. I also congratulate WWF and the other NGOs involved in the preparation of the report, which again, as Mark Ruskell said, echoes some of the findings of the Scottish Renewables report earlier in the year. I think that 50 per cent target for energy from renewables by 2030 is achievable. I can understand why the Scottish Government feels the need to go through the due diligence, but we are approaching the point where I think we will need to see the Government show its hand. I think that I would urge them to be ambitious in this area. In the renewables debate last week, I was cut off in my prime. An expectant public was denied the benefit of my peroration. I was also chastised on social media for not necessarily emphasising the job opportunities arising from a commitment to renewables, particularly in relation to manufacturing and the export benefits that arise from that. I had a wholeheartedly accepted that point. The job creating opportunities from a more sustainable use of our resources is accepted by everyone. The Scottish Renewables report, ahead of this debate, points to those export opportunities. It points to EMEC and its involvement in projects in Japan. That is a reflection of the loss of activity and the reduced confidence that has arisen in recent times through some of the decisions that are taken at the UK level. I would certainly encourage the Scottish Government to step into the space in terms of encouraging innovation. Stewart Stevenson, again, was right in urging us to turn our attention to the difficult things, notably in heat and transport, where less progress has been made. The Homes Bill provides an opportunity for us to up our game on district heating and making good deficiencies in the private rented sector. As with not just the Homes Bill but the fuel poverty strategy, possibly even the climate change bill as well, I would reiterate my plea for a degree of flexibility in allowing local circumstances to be built into the solutions that are used to drive the achievement of the objectives that we set. On transport, I would note in passing, and again make a last minute plea to the minister to roll back from the commitment to reduce air passenger duty, but I would use the time left available to make a specific plea in relation to electric vehicles. This is, again, an area where Orkney can claim to having the highest number of electric vehicles per head of population anywhere in the country. I think that the ownership of EVs is going up largely because costs are coming down through technology advances, through the wider uptake, also through a burgeoning second hand market, which is bringing down capital costs too. The infrastructure is indeed more extensive, though I think more can be done. I think that I would pay credit to the Orkney Renewable Energy Forum and what they have done in terms of advising local authorities on the optimal siting of charge points. It is to the issue of repair and maintenance that we urgently need to turn our attention. The infrastructure is in place, but it is no use if it does not work. Too often we are finding people turning up to these charge points only to find them out of order, sometimes for days, often for weeks. The problem is that councils, manufacturers and operators charge their cars all appointing the finger of blame at each other. Is there a cost recovery mechanism that would allow the charge points to be more reliably in working conditions? It is something that we expect of petrol stations. We would not accept that we are petrol stations to be out of order for days or weeks. We cannot afford that to happen for electric vehicle charge points. In conclusion, we have done excellent work in the field of electricity. That is widely acknowledged. We can do more, but it is in the area of heat and transport that we need to focus our attention. The role of this Parliament is to keep the Government's feet to the fire on what I think is a shared ambition. Ivan McKee to be followed by Finlay Carson. Before I start, I would like to remind the Parliament of my role as the parliamentary liaison officer to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work. I also want to thank Mary Todd for bringing this important debate to the Parliament. Scotland, as we have recognised, has made tremendous progress in greening our energy supply over recent years. In 1996, only 8 per cent of our electricity supply came from renewables, whereas last year, a total of 22 gigawatt hours, 57 per cent of our electricity supply came from renewables. Scotland currently supplies 26 per cent of the UK's renewable energy, making a significant contribution to the UK's overall climate change targets. The renewable industry, as has been identified, already supports 43,500 jobs in Scotland, and companies in the sector generate almost £11 billion in turnover. Scotland makes good use of its significant natural renewable resources onshore, wind-offshore, wind-pump, hydro and working to develop new technologies in wave and tidal, with a total installed capacity at the moment of 8 gigawatts, but the potential to deliver several times that number. As a consequence, Scotland has exceeded its climate change commitments, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the 1990 baseline level of 77 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent to current levels of 46 million tonnes, and Scotland's performance has been widely recognised and applauded internationally. The challenge to achieve 50 per cent of electricity from renewables has been exceeded, and the next task to reach 100 per cent of electricity from renewables is, within our sites, the significant quantity of on-and-offshore, wind-generation consented 1 gigawatt of their pumped hydro capacity ready to go, waiting only on the UK Government to provide a route to market. We're well on our way to the next milestone. Beyond that, the challenges to green the rest of energy and mix in transport and heat are more difficult. Together, those account for three quarters of our total energy demand. In this report, renewable energy in Scotland in 2030 from the WWF, the RSPB Friends of the Earth and Ricardo energy and environment gives us confidence in the past to follow to meet this challenge. The challenge ahead would require a number of technological, economic, cultural and political barriers to be overcome. In this report, it makes a significant contribution to the debate around how best to proceed. It portrays a vision of what Scotland's energy supply would look like by 2030. The growth in energy generation from renewables will continue, and by 2030, perhaps 140 per cent of electricity supply coming from renewables, enabling Scotland to export this resource. It is still in an extra 8 gigawatt of renewable capacity, supporting an extra 14,000 jobs. The cost of renewable generation continues to fall through economies of scale and technological advances. Low-mission vehicles will become the norm, with the proliferation of electric vehicles, both for public and private transport, in the drop in petrol and diesel use, also delivering significant health benefits. Heat provides the most challenging target and the biggest prize, more than half of energy consumption in Scotland generated by heat. Use of heat-pump technology, for example, like that developed, manufactured and exported by star renewables, already mentioned earlier by Maurice Golden, will become the norm. Heat homes and businesses, aided by an on-going programme of energy efficiency measures driving a demand reduction of 20 per cent, is anticipated that 40 per cent of energy for heat could come from renewable sources by 2030. All those aspects of energy policy will feed into the Scottish Government's energy strategy, allowing closely with the Government's forthcoming climate change strategy, pointing the way forward for renewable energy use and for the boost of our economy from Scotland becoming a leader in the design, manufacture and export of these technologies. Just before you begin, Mr Carson, I know that we are all very keen to hear Mr Carson and the minister in this debate, but we are running out of time. I am minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3, which allows us to extend the debate by up to 32 minutes, which you do not require to use. I invite Marie Todd to move a motion without notice. Many happy returns, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would also like to congratulate Marie Todd on securing the debate this afternoon and thank WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and RSPB for their report, which has been referred to in today's motion. Back in June 2009, the Parliament passed the Climate Change Scotland Bill with support from across the chamber. The legislation was held as world leading and demonstrated the Scottish Parliament's willingness to step up to the plate and show leadership by signing up to this ambitious target. I knew that I should not have extended all that time, Mr Stevenson. No, it really just would be appropriate in the light of the remarks that are being made to recognise the leading role that our late friend, Alex Johnson, played from the Conservative benches in that particular bill. I think that it would be appropriate to recognise that, Presiding Officer. I appreciate that intervention. Looking forward, as the report in question today does, there is still a lot more work to be done. As was said when the legislation was going through Parliament, the challenge would not be passing the bill but rather implementing it. One area that the report focused on is heat, and it rightly states that the renewal of Scotland's heat infrastructure will help tackle fuel poverty by bringing down heating costs. Fuel poverty is a major issue, the effects of which are profound. At the moment, fuel poverty is defined as having to spend more than 10 per cent of your household income on fuel. In order to address this, the Scottish Government aimed to eradicate fuel poverty by November 2016, which was last month. While I commend the Government's ambition, it is probably unlikely that the target will not be met just as it wasn't met in 2015. Although there is a welcome decline of 4 per cent, over 30 per cent of the households were still fuel poor and over 8 per cent were living in extreme fuel poverty. Those figures should all startle us, and although the causes of fuel poverty are varied and not always under our control, we are not powerless to act. At the election back in May, the Scottish Conservatives pledged to introduce a clear target to achieve a transformative change in energy efficiency across Scotland, with all properties achieving an EPCC rating or above by the end of the next decade at the latest. In Scotland today, a warm home should not be a luxury. People need help on how to make their homes warmer and get advice as to whether they are able to benefit from help with insulation or other efficiency measures, and they should get in touch with the home energy Scotland hotline to do that. Another area that the report focuses on is transport, and I would like to briefly touch on that. The report states that Scotland's low-carbon transport sector needs to move up a gear to hit climate targets. According to a Scottish Government publication looking at Scottish greenhouse gas emissions in 2014, domestic transport accounted for 22.8 per cent of all emissions. The Committee on Climate Change suggested that there had been little progress on reducing emissions from transport, and I accept that much of that is due to improved vehicle efficiency being offset by increased demand for travel as the economy has grown and fuel prices have fallen. However, once again, more needs to be done to correct the lack of progress. Deputy Presiding Officer, there is much more to discuss when it comes to climate change, and I look forward along with my colleagues in participating in other debates on that topic. The Scottish Parliament passed world-leading legislation in 2009, and we all have a duty to do our bit to make sure that we meet those targets set out in the bill. As Liam Kerr touched on, research and development and innovation is going to play a large part of it. The mix of energy sources, whether that is wind or hydro, will play a big part. I am delighted and I welcome the fact that kite power systems at West Frug down in the south-west have secured an additional £5 million worth of funding from Eon, Shlernumberg and Shell Technologies to develop their test and research facilities looking into kite. They have already secured planning consent to deploy a 500 kilowatt power station, and the additional funding will lead to multiple 500 kilowatt systems in the next three or four years, with a three megawatt onshore system and an offshore system in the future. As the report states, there is no room for complacency on the subject, and in order to achieve our targets will require bold policies, strong leadership and concerted action, and I look forward to being part of that. I know that you have a strong interest in the subject here as well, so it is very appropriate that you are here today. I want to congratulate, as others have done, Marie Todd on bringing forward an excellent first member's business subject. It is one that is obviously very topical, and indeed, if Marie Todd's first speech as an opening on a member's debate is anything to go by, we are looking forward to very good quality debates that she will bring to this chamber in the future. I am glad that there have been so many valuable and thoughtful and positive contributions from right across the chamber today. We would actually want to note, as I think Stuart Stevenson and others have done, that it is very welcome to see such positive contributions from the Conservatives as well. We have a real alliance in this chamber on renewables, so that is a very positive thing. As others have pointed out, Mark Ruskell, after the debate that we had last week, I think that it is good to have the subject in our minds as we come forward towards the draft energy strategy in the new year. I welcome the debate that is based around the work, as others have said, of WWF, Friends of the Earth, RSPB and Ricardo that we have discussed today, because it makes a very strong and valued contribution to the debate around Scotland's energy future. Our manifesto suggested that we would give the 50 per cent target careful consideration. I can promise that we are giving that careful consideration. We are developing the draft strategy. Members may not be surprised to understand that there is still a good bit of work to go. I am sure that Stuart Stevenson will understand from his previous role that the last few weeks are often the very intensive period when we are doing a lot of work, but we are working very hard on delivery of the draft energy strategy. I am grateful for members' support from across the chamber last week for our continued commitment to the renewable energy sector. Members have raised some very valid points, so I will touch on a few of them as I do just now. Claudia Beamish talked about energy democracy, which is a very interesting contribution to the debate. She asked about what we are doing to gather information from around the world. We have access to climate exchange, a consortium of Scottish universities to provide us with research support. They are monitoring development of local and community energy projects for social and economic benefits around the world. They have and can draw on experience from outside the UK in doing so. We are also funding Friends of the Earth Scotland to link with and promote community-shared ownership experience across Europe as well. We are not blind to the fact that there may be good practice out there in the rest of the world. We can learn from and take forward in our approach in Scotland. Maurice Golden talked about heat, and Finlay Carson finished on that subject. I will come back to that shortly. 54 per cent of energy consumption is in the form of heat, so it is right to highlight the importance of progress there and transport as well. We do accept that there is more needs to be done if we are going to achieve our climate change targets beyond 2020. I want to also pay tribute to Stuart Stevenson because he was—I do not have many opportunities to do so, but I think today particularly because the minister who took the legislation to the Parliament, I was incredibly pride when I was his successor to be able to speak about the achievement that Stuart and the team across the chamber had in having a universally supported piece of legislation, which is so unusual in a global context and in taking on such an important global challenge. Mark Ruskell invited me to visit Finlay. I would be more than happy to do so. I am very aware of the very good work that is being done by the Finlay development trust, but I am keen to see for myself exactly the impact that it is having. I am very interesting to hear about the embedded renewable technology that he is seeing in his planning documents coming through Stirling Council, so that is useful to know. Ruth Maguire talked about the important local business, wind hoist, and the work that they are doing across the globe to install turbines. I am certainly keen to learn more about the business, because the more I learn about important local businesses in areas such as Curvan, which are involved with renewables, I can push that message to developers who are looking to invest in Scotland and further afield. Liam McArthur raised an important point about the condition of the technology that we have invested in the implementation of our strategy on EV roll-out. I clearly would like to find out more information about the condition of the equipment in Orkney and see if anything can be done to do that. Just to be clear, the infrastructure in Orkney tends to be reasonably well maintained. The problem is often on routes such as the A9, where people are travelling large distances and are very much dependent on their being a rapid charge and functioning at the point at which they need it. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, Liam McArthur, for that clarification. It will be very helpful in terms of fine-tuning the approach that I would take. I would just highlight for members' benefit that this is in the context of our current review of the switch on Scotland, which is the road map that was developed jointly with industry on the adoption of plug-in vehicles. As has been well documented, Scotland's renewable energy industry is a UK success story, but it is also an area where Scotland has always shown great leadership. I welcome the acknowledgement from Maurice Golden of that. Scotland met, as members have said, 57 per cent of our electricity needs from renewables in 2015. As Ruth Maguire highlighted, in 2014, the low-carbon and renewable energy economy supported 43,500 jobs, accounting for 9.7 per cent of the total UK employment in the sector, which is higher than our population share, but is not high enough. The point about focusing on jobs is that we need to tie that in with our emerging industrial policy and manufacturing action plan to make sure that we capitalise on the opportunities such as, I hope to see, as I am sure members do, the roll-out of all the phases of the major end project. I would like to see us work with Atlantis and see if there are opportunities to manufacture turbines in Scotland and, indeed, other developments as they happen here as well. As members have pointed out, £10.7 billion in turnover is a significant contribution to our economy, and last year we did see the largest increase in renewable heat output since measurement began. I acknowledge the scale of the challenge that we have to deliver on our targets, but we should welcome the progress that we have made in recent years. It is up from 3.8 per cent in 2014 to 5.6 in 2015, so quite a large jump in the context of the challenge that we face. As Ivan McKee stated, total Scottish renewable generation makes up approximately 26 per cent of total UK renewables at this moment in time. Renewable electricity projects are estimated to have displaced over 13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide across the UK in 2015. Perhaps once a niche industry is now very much mainstream and providing very much valued jobs across the UK, but, specifically in Scotland, we are keen to see that do more. The Scottish Government's targets, which are being referred to by members, are consistently supportive of renewable energy. Both those approaches of having ambitious targets and consistent support have been important factors in the success of the industry. We also made a clear statement of political will last week, as well as a chamber, in showing our support for the technology that we are referring to. WWF, Scottish renewables and all the organisations calling for an increased level of ambition for renewables have recognised and welcomed the leadership and ambition that is shown by this Parliament as well as the Scottish Government. I want to acknowledge the role of Parliament, and that will, hopefully, continue as will the strongly collaborative approach to developing policies to achieve our shared objective of making the most of Scotland's renewables. As we prepare our energy strategy, we are looking closely to work closely with RSPB, WWF, Friends of the Earth and, indeed, specialist such as Ricardo, because there is much that we can agree on. We are making energy efficiency a very strong priority in that document, as you will see in due course. Certainly putting a lot of weight behind CEP, a co-ordinated programme to improve the energy efficiency of homes and buildings, and not just in the domestic sector but non-domestic buildings as well, Presiding Officer. I do agree with Maurice Golden about the issue of low-carbon heat. I am conscious of the time, so I will keep that brief, but we have seen a very large increase in the number of accreditations. As of the end of October 2016, there have been 10,703 accreditations for the RHI in Scotland, a 21 per cent share of UK-wide uptake, so well above our pro-Rata share, so that is very encouraging as well. I will come to an end, Presiding Officer. I think that everyone is desperate to get away, but we probably have Christmas parties and things to go to. I know that my colleagues have, but I am currently leading this Government work on the energy strategy. I look forward to working with all members of the chamber who bring positivity to that challenge, and I very much welcome again today's debate. I thank Marie Todd for bringing it to the chamber, and I thank all members for their very positive remarks, because together we can achieve great things for our renewable sector in Scotland.