 drwy y ddwyloedd yng Ngysliw Llywodraeth. Eiceil. Yes, I'm happy to provide that confirmation. Thank you, that ends the ministerial statement. We now move on to the next item of business, which is a statement by Elin McLeod on the Scottish Greenhouse gas emissions annual target report 2013, reporting progress towards meeting the interim target. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement and there need to therefore be no interventions or interruptions. Can I just point out to members? In the previous statement I unfortunately had to drop three members who wished to ask a question because we'd run out of time. Can you bear that in mind when you're asking your questions? I now call Ailey McLeod. Minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. In 2009 this Parliament acted unanimously to enshrine world-leading climate change targets in legislation. We were supported by huge numbers of people across Scotland in business, public sector, academia, in NGOs, in schools, in trade unions, in communities and in homes. Through its collective high ambition we were able to establish world-leading targets of a 42 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. Scotland was also the first national government in the world to establish a climate justice fund. I am proud of those actions, Presiding Officer, and of Scotland's ambition. Continued ambition and action are required from all of us if we are to tackle the environmental harm and social injustices caused by climate change. Through the recent Scottish Leaders climate change pledge, we have again, as political parties, shown our collective commitment to tackle this challenge. Across Scotland many people are doing the same, taking action as individuals, as families, as communities and as organisations. The Scottish Government is also committed and is leading by example. Our cabinet sub-committee on climate change demonstrates our commitment to tackling this issue at the highest level within government. We have pledged around £1 billion of funding over two years, 2014-15 and 2015-16 for climate change action. We have in place a comprehensive package of measures to meet our climate change targets out to 2027. Taking action, Presiding Officer, in climate change, we are investing in our people, our environment and our economy, creating a fairer and more prosperous Scotland. We are reducing the amount of energy that people use. We are already below the consumption level that is required to meet our 2020 12 per cent target seven years ahead of schedule. We are reducing levels of fuel poverty and since 2009 we have allocated over half a billion pounds on a range of fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes with a budget of £119 million for the current financial year. In June, I announced that this would be a national infrastructure priority for government. We are reducing our dependence on fossil fuels by scaling up renewable energy and Scotland now generates almost half of its electricity demand from renewables. In 2014, the amount of heat generated by renewables in Scotland grew by 36 per cent. We are focused on community and locally owned energy. Last month reaching our 2020 target of 500 megawatts of community renewables five years early. Across Scotland, nearly 45,000 people are employed in the low-carbon economy and its supply chain. Taking action to reduce emissions from transport compared to 2013-14, we have increased investment in active travel by over 80 per cent. We are committed to rail electrification. We are working with partners to deliver our electric vehicle roadmap with more electric vehicles being sold in Scotland than ever before. We are encouraging waste reduction, extending recycling and reducing the waste to landfill. In 2014, 42.8 per cent of Scotland's household waste was composted, recycled or reused. For the first time, landfilling of household waste fell below 50 per cent. Scotland is taking action locally and being recognised globally. Christiana Fuguerys, who is the head of the United Nations climate body, has cited Scotland's ambition on renewables and low-carbon as a shining example to other countries. We have set the bar high with our world-leading targets and Scottish ministers have sought to push up global ambition since 2010. For example, while in Lima last year, in my first days as a minister, I signed the compact of states and regions, an international reporting platform for sub-national governments, representing 12.5 per cent of the world's GDP and over 325 million people. This year, when attending the World Summit climate and territories in Leong, I signed the under 2 MOU, another initiative between sub-national governments aimed at promoting high ambition ahead of Paris. In this milestone year, the international community will have to match Scotland's commitment if the Paris summit is to produce a truly effective global response on climate change. We hope that the Paris summit will be a big step forward. It is crucial that we push further to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius or less if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change falling on the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. Although Scotland's targets are challenging with much still to do, I want to emphasise today that we are making good progress. This morning, I laid before Parliament Scotland's report on progress towards meeting its interim target. The report shows that, in each of the years, from 2010 to 2013, the percentage reductions that we have achieved have exceeded those set out along the trajectory to meet the 42 per cent reduction in 2020. In fact, Scotland's emissions have fallen by 38.4 per cent from the 1990 baseline, leaving just a further 6 per cent reduction to meet the 2020 target over the next seven years. Scotland is clearly on track to meet its interim 2020 target. I believe that that is a message that we should focus on. It is a fantastic achievement. Of course, we know that the act requires even greater reductions to meet the 2050 target. There is no room for complacency, nor will we fail to recognise the challenges in meeting Scotland's annual targets. I recognise that the other report that I laid today shows that Scotland's 2013 annual target has been narrowly missed by 1.7 megatons. That is because of revisions to the baseline since the time when the fixed targets were set. I highlighted that in my statement to Parliament on the publication of the 2013 Scottish greenhouse gas statistics in June this year. In June, I also explained that changes to the methodology for calculating emissions have added 10.6 megatons to the 1990 baseline, making it harder to meet the annual target. Despite that, Scotland's emissions have fallen by 38.4 per cent from the baseline, which is far greater than the 31.7 per cent reduction envisaged when the target for 2013 was set. Had it not been for successive increases to the baseline, Scotland would have met and exceeded our target for 2013 and the three previous years. Against the 2020 and 2050 targets, Scotland is making significant progress, but we must continue to lift the pace of our actions against our fixed annual targets. That is why, in June, I announced further measures on energy efficiency, environment and transport aimed at reducing Scotland's emissions. As I also indicated in June, we will be ensuring that climate change is a top priority through a Cabinet agreement to embed climate change in the autumn budget process. I remain determined, Presiding Officer, that we make up for the cumulative shortfall that has resulted from Scotland's missed annual targets. We will do that by ensuring that our RPP3 addresses that, as well as setting out measures required to reduce emissions out to 2032, fulfilling our statutory requirements under sections 35 and 36 of the act. However, it is not just about government. It will take continued commitment and action by all of us if Scotland is to achieve the emission reductions required. That is why the production of RPP3 will be a wide participative process, building collective ownership and responsibility. We will have a conversation with people across Scotland listening to their views on climate change and the actions that we must collectively take. We have started that conversation, Presiding Officer, with events planned with community groups in the new year. Given the impact of decisions that are made now on future generations, we must give a voice to the next generation of Scottish leaders by involving the 2050 climate group. Of course, engaging the Scottish Parliament will be a key element with opportunities being developed to get involved alongside regular parliamentary business. Those are just a few of the plans that we are being put in place to make sure that our RPP3 is a truly collective endeavour. I call on this Parliament to agree that commitment and action are required from all of us if Scotland is to continue to lead by example in tackling climate change. That is the message that I want us to take to Paris demonstrating Scottish leadership and encouraging others to step up and embrace the climate change challenge. The minister will now take questions on issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow no more than 20 minutes of questions after which we must move on. It would be helpful if members wished to ask a question or to press a request, but now I call Sarah Boyack. I thank the minister for advance notice of her statement. Minister, failure in the last four years means that 18 megatons of carbon is now in our atmosphere, which would not have been there had the targets been met. That is equivalent to the whole of the Scottish energy sector's output in one year. Progress on renewables is nowhere near enough to compensate for failure on farming, transport, housing, buildings and infrastructure. The minister mentions a billion pound spending in the budget. Is this new money and will she publish details of these projects now? Given the rise in public sector emissions and failure on housing, surely the national infrastructure project must be brought forward to start now? Will the Scottish Government sign up to the existing homes alliance asks? Section 36 of the act requires ministers to detail how they will make up for missed targets in the early years. Where is that report, minister? Today's report confirms that there has been no reduction in household emissions and the climate act enables householders to get discounts on their council tax for energy efficiency measures. Yet last year, two households in the whole of Scotland benefited. Only two. Is the minister proud of that? Her predecessor, sitting beside her, correctly stated that failure to sort out our leaky drafty homes was a regular vulnerability which needed efficiency and decarbonisation of electricity, heat and generation. However, we are not seeing that, and pride in renewable heat is a staggering lack of ambition given the low target set. I am glad that the minister is going to Paris, but without radical action, today's statement and our act is meaningless. This statement reeks of complacency. Minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To say to Mr Boyack, our achievements, we have a long list of achievements and they demonstrate the good progress that we are making. Our energy consumption, our target to reduce consumption by 12 per cent by 2020, is already at the required level in 2013, down by 13.3 per cent from the 2005-07 baseline. On heat, the amount of heat generated by renewable sources in Scotland grew by 36 per cent during 2014. On housing, we have allocated over half a billion pounds since 2009 on a raft of fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes. We continue to focus on increasing the energy efficiency of homes in Scotland to tackle fuel poverty with a budget of £119 million for the current year 2015-16. On renewables, our provisional annual statistics for 2014 show that the equivalent of 49.6 per cent of Scotland's girls' electricity consumption came from renewables, and that is just short of our interim target of 50 per cent by 2015. On community and locally-owned energy, we announced on 17 September that we have reached our target of 500 megawatts of renewables capacity by 2020, five years early. On transport, compared to 2013-14, we have increased investment in active travel by over 80 per cent from £21.35 million in 2013-14 to £39.2 million in 2015-16. That is at a time when our overall capital budget has decreased by 26 per cent. On section 36, I said that Boyack will know that producing a credible package of proposals and policies to make up that shortfall that is totaling 17.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent from previous annual targets and to get back on track to meet future annual targets will take time. Therefore, it is our intention that RPP3, as I said out, will set out proposals and policies in detail to compensate in future years for the excess emissions from previous annual targets. It is planned to lay a draft of RPP3 for scrutiny by the Parliament towards the end of 2016. We are making significant progress. We have cut our emissions by 38.4 per cent. We are more than three quarters of the way towards meeting our 42 per cent emission reduction in 2020 ahead of schedule. Alex Ferguson. I apologise, Presiding Officer. I didn't hear you call my name. I also thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement, which, with the best will in the world, does seem to bear remarkable similarity to last year's statement. However, in amongst all the good stuff, and I do not deny that there is good stuff within that statement, it is deeply disappointing that the government has yet again missed its target the fourth year in a row. The government has never actually met its target, and that begins to get surely much more than just deeply disappointing, because every time a target is missed, the gap between where we began and where we want to get to increases. The minister blames baseline revision. She did so last year as well. Can I ask why allowances do not appear to be made for these baseline revisions that we all know are coming as the annual targets and basis of policy is considered? The minister says that she will fulfil section 36 of the Climate Change Act, but she seemed to indicate in answer to Sarah Boyack that she would do so through RPP3. Well, I do not believe RPP3 fulfills section 36 of the Climate Change Act. Sarah Boyack asked where is that section 36 report, and I would repeat that call. Finally, Presiding Officer, forestry planting is a major role to play in emissions reductions. Thousands of hectares have been felled to make way for wind farms over the last few years, and they are supposed to be replaced by compensatory planting. So, could the minister tell us how many hectares of compensatory planting have taken place over the last three years, and what percentage that makes up of the total area of timber felled for wind farm development? If she cannot tell me today, which I quite understand, would she undertake to write to me with those figures? I say to Alex Ferguson that the fixed annual targets were established on the basis of the 1990 to 2008 inventory in order to meet an emission reduction of 42 per cent by 2020, and since then that baseline has risen by 10.6 megatons. Now, given the effect of cumulative upwards revisions to the inventories since the targets were established, the percentage reductions required to achieve the fixed targets are now out of line with the 42 per cent reduction target. As I said before, if it hadn't been for successive increases to the baseline since the targets were established, Scotland would have met and exceeded its annual target for this year and the three previous years also. The reason why we have fixed annual emission targets is due to the changes in the way in which the data is calculated as a result of methodological improvements. The level of progress that Scotland can make in reducing emissions is also dependent on the policies and actions of others, especially the UK and the EU. The UK Government cuts to energy efficiency and renewable measures are creating a worrying climate of uncertainty for low-carbon policy in the UK. A Lord Daven, who is the chair of the Committee on Climate Change, in a letter to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change at Amber Rudd on 22 September said, The uncertainty that is created by changes to existing policies and a lack of replacement policies up to and after 2020 could well lead to stop-start investment, higher costs and a risk that targets to reducing emissions will be missed. In terms of your specific point on the forestry, I am happy to answer the member in full. In terms of our target, RPP2 was clear that the target of 10,000 hectares per year was an average of the period to 2022. We are reversing the historic decline in woodland planting rates, protecting this important carbon sink. In 2013, forestry was the only sector in which there has been a net emissions sink. Planting rates have increased to an average of 8,000 hectares per year during the period 2011-2012 to 2014-15, which equates to around 16 million trees a year. With the launch of the new Scottish Rural Development programme, we aim to raise the planting rates from 2015. Rob Gibson, followed by Claudia Beamish. I am sure that the minister will join me in welcoming the third peatland forum in conference that starts in my constituency today. Methane levels have been increasingly marked up in the greenhouse gas inventory. In what ways have the measurement of methane emissions from deep peats such as the flow country in Caithness in Sutherland helped to meet our stretching Scottish climate change targets? The new international reporting requirements, which came into force for the 2013 inventory, have increased the potency of methane as a greenhouse gas and makes it harder to meet our fixed annual targets. The measurement of methane in deep peat is not currently required under the greenhouse gas inventory under international reporting requirements. However, work is under way to estimate emissions caused by the human influence from drainage and rewetting of peatland. It is intended that those emissions will be included in the greenhouse gas inventory once research has been completed. However, while the work continues, we have been supporting restoration through the Scottish Natural Heritage-led peatland action initiative and the new SRDP. Claudia Beamish has my sympathy, but it is more important that she has my permission to stay seated for her contributions. In the lead-up to Paris, climate justice will be at the heart of Scottish policies. What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that a just transition strategy is in place supporting communities that are likely to be affected? How is the minister working with other ministers to ensure that transferable skills leading to new local jobs are going to benefit those in the fossil fuel industries who are losing their jobs now but also for the long-term future? As I said, we still recognise the poor and the vulnerable at home and abroad who are the first to be affected by climate change. They will suffer the worst yet they have done little or nothing to cause the problem. Justices and all that are very clear and that is why the Scottish Government is championing climate justice. We want to make sure that what we see is a just transition to a low-carbon economy with the burdens of climate change and the benefits of the low-carbon economy shared equitably. The Scottish National Action Plan on Human Rights commits Scotland to continue to champion climate justice and to make sure that we are developing a co-ordinated approach to climate justice at home and abroad in bedding climate justice in the national performance framework and aligning it with the UN's post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. We also have our innovative £6 million climate justice fund, which is supporting 11 water adaptation projects in four sub-Saharan African countries, Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda and Tanzania. We have £3.8 million from our international development fund since 2012 for community energy projects in Malawi. In the international engagements that I have been undertaking, I have also been championing climate justice, which I did so at the World Climate Summit in Leong, where I had the opportunity to do so during a plenarisation. One of every four of Dundee City Council's cars and vans are now electric, and in conjunction with Transport Scotland, a further £1 million has been invested in Evian's infrastructure across the city, contributing to 115 of the taxes that have been electric in Dundee, boasting one of the largest and fastest-growing fleets of electric car club vehicles. Can I ask the minister whether that progress is being mirrored across the other 31 local authority areas, or do we need greater buy-in from our councils if we are to get transport emissions down to something resembling an acceptable level? Back by £2.5 million of funding from Transport Scotland's Switched On Fleets initiative, Scotland's local authorities are leading the way in the adoption of electric vehicles. In a 2014 survey of 433 councils in the UK regarding how many electric vehicles they had in their fleets for the top five were from Scotland, Dundee came to talk with South Lanarkshire, Glasgow City Council and Fife Council, placing second, third and fifth respectively. Dundee is the only Scottish local authority on the shortlist for the UK Government's electric taxi scheme and the go-altra low-city scheme. If successful, those bids are worth more than £20 million to Dundee and its partners. I am sure that we would all want to wish Dundee every success with their bids. We will obviously share learning from the Dundee work across the country to enable the city and ultimately Scotland to be globally recognised as a leader for innovative electric vehicle deployment. I thank the minister for an advanced copy of her statement. She told Parliament just now that the RPP will not be produced and not be laid before Parliament until the end of 2016. My reading of the Climate Change Act says that a section 36 report should be produced and it is in law as soon as is reasonably practicable. Is the end of 2016 as soon as is reasonably practicable? I would say to Tavish Scott that we also have to go through a very thorough and from consultation process as well and also in terms of our opportunity to be able to lay that report in time for Parliament to make sure that we give it the proper scrutiny that it deserves as well as across the scrutiny from the other parliamentary committees as well. Gil Paterson, followed by Patrick Harvie. It is clear that action on climate change requires action at every level and by all. What will the Government do to encourage individuals and organisations to play their part? There is already a wide range of action on climate change being taken by individuals, families, communities, businesses and other organisations right across Scotland but we need to continue to do more. Our national ambitions to tackle climate change will only be realised by people across Scotland taking action. The pace of the transition to a low-carbon society will be determined by how we as individuals, households and communities adapt and change our behaviours. That is why in the new year it is part of the development of further measures to tackle climate change between now and 2032. We will be asking people across Scotland for their views on climate change and what action we can collectively take because all of us including businesses, public sector, communities and individuals have a vital role to play. Patrick Harvie, followed by Mike McMahon. There has been much talk of baseline revisions but the Government has the power under the act to come back to Parliament and ask to revise the targets themselves. They have not done so, in my view quite rightly, but surely we must draw from that that these targets remain reachable and that the commitment is still there to reach these annual targets. Therefore, would not today have been a good day for the minister to come to Parliament and tell us how much money is attached to the national infrastructure priority on energy efficiency when that work will begin? Has the minister been told by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance how much money is available? In terms of Patrick Harvie's questions on the Committee on Climate Change, when it published its report, the Scotland Progress report, back in March, it said in its report that inventory changes have made our legislative targets much harder to reach. It has also said that it will work with the Scottish Government to address the issue whether inventory changes are pending. It has recommended that the Scottish Government should continue to investigate further abatement from measures that go beyond our current policies. We also propose to agree a process and timeline with the Scottish Government to advise on the implications for Scottish targets of significantly improved inventory data that is expected later in 2015 and again in 2017. We will continue to work with the Committee on Climate Change on that. In terms of the progress that we have been making for our improvement in the energy efficiency of Scotland's homes and non-domestic building stock, the detail of that programme is being developed, but it will be a truly national programme providing support for all buildings across Scotland. We will work closely with stakeholders to design and develop the new programme over the next two years. In terms of the spending route, I obviously cannot pre-empt any discussions around that, but the Cabinet and the sub-committee have agreed that we will be embedding climate change within the budget process. I thank the minister for her statement, but I note that the minister congratulated herself on reducing the levels of fuel poverty. Does she accept however that almost one-third of Scots remain in fuel poverty and that this is completely unacceptable? Does she recognise that only 30 per cent of privately owned or rented homes achieve an energy performance certificate of sea rating, with 65 per cent achieving D and E rates? Will she commit to giving the same emphasis and investment to the private housing sector that our Government directs towards the social housing sector? When we've already allocated over £500 billion since 2009 on a raft of fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes, nearly one in three of our households over £700,000 have now received energy efficiency support. Tackling fuel poverty, Presiding Officer, remains a priority for this Government, and this year we are spending unprecedented amounts on fuel poverty and energy efficiency with a record budget of £119 million for 2015-16. I apologise to the four members that have been unable to call for this statement. We need to move on to next site of business, which is a debate on motion number 14297. In the name of Margaret Mitchell on the Apologies Scotland bill, members who wish to take part in the debate should press...