 The next item of business is a statement by Roseanna Cunningham on Scotland's contribution to international action on climate change and the Paris agreement. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Roseanna Cunningham, around 10 minutes please cabinet secretary. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'll begin with a short formal statement on our annual progress, as required by the Climate Change Act. On 31 October, I laid before this Parliament a statutory report on the status of the latest annual target under the 2009 act. The report shows the annual target and domestic effort target for 2014 were both met. The report reflects emissions statistics published in June, showing progress so strong that Scotland exceeded the level of its world-leading 2020 target of a 42 per cent cut six years early. Scotland's emissions in 2014 were 45.8 per cent lower than in 1990. By any standards, that is an excellent performance. On a comparable basis, Scotland is among the top performers in the EU-15 countries, second only to Sweden since 1990. While visiting Scotland in March, Christiana Figueres, the outgoing head of the UNFCCC, called Scotland's Actions Exemplary, Lord Debbon, chair of the Committee on Climate Change, has said that the Scottish Government's policies and programmes have made a significant difference. You are meeting a target and the target is tough. Building on Scotland's outstanding progress and recognising that the Paris agreement to which I'll return in a moment represents a call to action for all countries, we have committed to outlining proposals for a new climate change bill, including a new and more testing emissions reduction target for 2020. Our approach to setting the levels of future statutory targets will continue to be based on best evidence, including the independent expert advice of the Committee on Climate Change on the implications of the Paris agreement for Scotland. We will be consulting on the bill based on the Committee's advice early next year. While we now anticipate new legislation, the Scottish Government remains committed to discharging the requirements of the 2009 act in a manner that is both evidence-based and high in ambition. In particular, my ministerial colleagues and I are working together in the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Climate Change to agree the package of policies and proposals for our climate change plan. The plan will set out policies and proposals to deliver Scotland's statutory emission reduction targets out to 2032 under the 2009 act. As requested by the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, we will bring a draft of the plan for parliamentary scrutiny in January. That is the initial formal statement that I am required to make to Parliament, but I now want to follow that formal statement to talk a little more about the new international context that is represented by the historic Paris agreement. The Paris agreement is the first truly global action plan to tackle climate change. The 196 countries of the UN climate convention have agreed that, in the words of the treaty, climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet and requires the widest possible co-operation by all countries. The agreed international aim is to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 °C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 °C, with rapid reductions in emissions to net zero in the second half of this century. The Paris agreement was the first big challenge for the UN sustainable development framework, the international set of goals to fight poverty and transform the world economy. In July 2015, the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government would adopt the sustainable development framework, making Scotland one of the first nations to commit to the goals. The Paris agreement followed calls from the G7 leaders of industrialised countries for urgent and concrete action, deep cuts in emissions and decarbonisation of the global economy this century. There have, of course, also been strong calls for action from world faith leaders. Indeed, I would like to draw members' attention to the global interfaith message issued today to the UN climate conference in Marrakesh, which has been signed by Scottish faith leaders. Tackling major global issues such as climate change usually requires leadership from the USA. EU climate diplomacy kept the UNFCCC process moving forward during the years following the Copenhagen summit, but it was the partnership between the USA and China in 2014, which finally enabled a level of ambition at Paris that was at the very top end of expectations. The US presidential election this week undoubtedly means a tougher job for progressive US states, so it makes it all the more important to promote very strongly the economic case for action on climate change, the massive investment in future jobs that will flow from the low-carbon transition. So how is Scotland contributing to the international agenda? We have significantly scaled up renewable electricity capacity, and in 2015 it accounted for 56.7 per cent of Scotland's gross electricity consumption. Scaling up existing technologies is very important in the international context. Delivering a 45.8 per cent cut in emissions and exceeding our 2020 target level six years early shows other countries that deep emissions cuts are possible. We also delivered our 2020 target of 500 megawatts of community and locally-owned renewables five years ahead of schedule. Incidentally, we have set new and more testing targets of 1 gigawatt by 2020 and 2 gigawatt by 2030. We have also achieved a 15.2 per cent cut in total energy consumption, passing our 2020 target of 12 per cent six years early. We have contributed to achievements at the European level, where the EU is currently ahead of schedule with a 24 per cent cut in emissions against the 20 per cent target for 2020. Based on Scottish and EU experience, progress will likely be faster than we expect. This is important because the existing pledges under the Paris agreement are only enough to limit global temperature rise to perhaps around three degrees. It is clear that more will need to be done. Scotland and the EU have also both been cutting emissions while growing the economy. That is, as I said, a very important international message now. Low-carbon and renewable energy employ over 21,000 people in Scotland. Laurent Fabius, the French minister who presided over the success at Paris, spoke at Edinburgh Castle in September. He emphasised the huge support from devolved region and state Governments, local government, cities, businesses, NGOs, faith groups, trade unions and civic society that helped to make the Paris agreement. That echoes the Scottish experience of strong cross-party and cross-society support for climate action. We believe that non-state actors will help to drive a strongly progressive agenda faster than expected. The climate group brings together Governments and businesses on the international stage to promote high ambition. Scotland has been a very active member of the climate group states and regions alliance for over a decade. It has provided an excellent platform for Scottish ministers to get our important messages across. We have also signed the Under 2 MOU, a huge coalition setting targets for 2050 and now representing over 800 million people. Importantly, we also now report annually on our progress directly to the international community under the compact of states and regions. Scotland has also continued to champion climate justice because the worst impacts of climate change are falling on the poor and vulnerable. Following this Parliament's debate on climate justice in 2012 and Scotland's international climate justice conference in October 2013, the Scottish national action plan on human rights commits us to continue to champion climate justice. Scotland's innovative climate justice fund, initially supported by £6 million from our hydranation programme, has supported 11 projects in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda by Scottish Catholic international aid fund, voluntary service overseas, tier fund, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian University, Oxfam Scotland, Christian Age Scotland and Water Witness International. The First Minister announced that £3 million annually will now be invested by Scotland and that will be over the next five years. We have already announced in March £2 million from hydranation to help to improve more lives in Malawi through the University of Strathclyde's Water Futures programme. The fund has provided additional support to the humanitarian crisis in Malawi, with £240,000 last month on a match funding basis to Oxfam, Christian Age, Sceaf and Ems international, doubling the Scottish Government contribution, which is helping to supply at least 35,000 people with basic food supplies over the coming months. In a further diversification of the fund's activities, the First Minister announced a £1 million contribution to the capacity building initiative for transparency and important foundation for the success of the Paris agreement, supporting developing countries engagement with the treaty. Although the worst impacts of climate change will fall on developing countries and areas like the Arctic, we did not assume that Scotland will be immune. An independent assessment of Scotland's adaptation programme in 2016 highlighted the good start that we have made on our adaptation programme, but cautioned on the challenges ahead. Peatland restoration is a valuable investment in climate adaptation, reducing emissions from degraded areas and creating carbon sequestration opportunities. It provides significant co-benefits such as biodiversity water quality and natural flood management, and I expect those to be recognised in the forthcoming climate change plan. I can confirm today that we have made available £400,000 to SNH to bring forward further action this coming financial year. To return to the Paris agreement, I attended the extraordinary environment council in Brussels on 30 September to lend Scotland's very strong support for early ratification by the EU. We were delighted last week to welcome the coming into force of the agreement four years early on 4 November. The EU, which pledges at least 40 per cent emissions cuts by 2030, is working to deliver that pledge. The EU has committed to play a full part in the mechanisms under the Paris agreement designed to raise global ambition over time. In conclusion, we have cut our emissions by 45.8 per cent between 1990 and 2014, meeting our 2014 annual target and exceeding our 2020 target of a 42 per cent cut six years early. We will continue to rise to the challenge. In 2017, we will publish a new energy strategy fully integrated with a new climate change plan and a new climate change bill, establishing a new and more testing 2020 target. Other countries must now match Scotland's ambitions and actions. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement, and I intend to allow around 20 minutes for that. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question could press the request-to-speak buttons now, and I call Maurice Golden. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank the cabinet secretary for advanced copy of her statement. First of all, I note that we welcome the ratification of the Paris agreement on climate change and encourage all UN member states to do all they can to deliver under the obligations contained in the agreement. Here in Scotland, the Scottish Government has overseen the establishment of ambitious climate change targets. The good news is that emissions in Scotland are now 46 per cent lower than in 1990, after failing to meet their targets in the preceding four years. Emission reductions and leadership need to be shown in other sectors that have lagged behind such as transport, heat and energy efficiency. For example, transport emissions have decreased by less than 1 per cent in comparison to the 1990 baseline. As we continue our transition towards a low-carbon economy, the key will be to have a range of secure and balanced energy sources combined with the ecological and technological solutions that will drive down emissions and enhance carbon sequestration. However, the infrastructure both natural and physical has to be put in place today in order to achieve that. Does the cabinet secretary agree that sector-specific targets are key to ensuring that carbon emissions in sectors such as transport ensure that they contribute to our climate change targets, and will she include those targets in the upcoming climate change plan? I welcome the support of the Conservatives for the overall approach that we are taking in terms of climate change. I know that that support is replicated across the chamber, and it is one of the strengths that we have in Scotland that we have that support. The member raised specifically an issue about transport, and although I do not want to get drawn too much into that, I think that what he was playing forward to as a question about the sector-specific targets—at the moment, we have not made a final decision about what will be in the bill and how it will be constructed. I would caution, however, an assumption that sector-specific targets are an easy answer to that. First of all, we need to make sure that we get the balance right across all sectors in the economy. We are able to do that by not actually having the very sector-specific targets, but in some cases, frankly, from my perspective, it would be very difficult to allocate some of the savings to specific sectors. I will give one very small example. If we go down the road that the EU wishes us to go down, as I understand it in 2019, and every new-build home, for example, would have an electric vehicle charging point as standard, does that count for transport or does it count for housing, or do we have to find some mechanism to allocate between the two? There are some things that would look across sectoral. How does one then deal with sector-specific targets in those circumstances? We will look at all possible approaches, but we will work out what the best is for Scotland, and we will be consulting that on that in the bill. Claudia Beamish I thank the cabinet secretary for prior sight of the statement. Scotland is indeed a world leader in tackling climate change and addressing climate justice. There are, of course, continuing challenges, and the need to tackle those must be squarely addressed by the Scottish Government in the heaviest-submitting sectors, bringing new opportunities and jobs. However, today I want to focus on the global perspective in view of US President-elect Trump's utter denial of the irrefutable climate science and evidence. From whole US states threatened with intolerable temperatures to small island states threatened with annihilation if temperatures are not held below two degrees. Reassuringly, China's central national centre for climate change has stated that its climate policy is not dependent on the US presidency. At this critical time for the future of our planet, can I ask the cabinet secretary if she agrees with me that building confidence and connections between countries and regions will be key in maintaining momentum and action? May we wish her well in Marrakesh from the Scottish Labour Benches in continuing to contribute to this essential process for the future of humanity? Roseanna Cunningham I thank Claudia Beamish for the Labour Party's support for the climate change policy. I hear what she says about some of the sectors that we understand and accept need to be focused on. That is something that is an active discussion. I hope that other parties in the chamber will respond well to the draft climate change plan when it is published and to the new bill when it comes. The member's main concern is about the international scenario at the moment. I think that that obviously is a concern for everybody just now. If I was to try and be as generous as possible, I would say that we, all of us, sometimes during campaigns, hear rhetoric that might not always be as fortunate as it could. We will have to see what happens, because climate change is happening and the issue is not going to go away. America will be subject to the damaging effects of climate change, regardless of what the leadership might or might not think about it or do. I understand that the EU climate commissioner, Miguel Cagnete, wrote to Mr Trump yesterday, stressing the need for continued EU-US co-operation. Scotland has had a long relationship with the US, and we value that relationship. The Paris agreement is supported by strong action from states, cities, businesses and faith groups. A progressive agenda can still be driven at those levels. We have been through periods before, where US leadership and climate change were absent, but there are huge jobs, investment and growth opportunities from the low-carbon economy and the innovation that is required for the low-carbon transition. The US could benefit from that low-carbon economy as well. We would try to approach that with as much optimism as possible in the circumstances. I call Graham Dade to be followed by Edward Mountain. Whilst recognising and welcoming progress made to date, if we are to respond to the call to action of the Paris agreement, we will need to secure very significant behavioural change across society. The UK CCCC has recently appointed a behavioural scientist and its chair Lord Devin has suggested that this is an area that the Scottish Government ought to explore more closely. Is this something that the cabinet secretary is already taking forward or would be prepared to consider? Roseanna Cunningham? Yes. I think that we would all agree with Graham Dade that influencing behaviours is one of the keys to delivering our climate change targets. This is something that we are keen to work with the UK CCCC on. We are already looking at how we can strengthen the behavioural aspects of our climate change policies. For example, the individual social and material tool, ISM for short, helps policy areas to break down the factors that influence people's behaviours. We are using the tool across a range of policy areas, including housing and energy. Last year, officials gave a presentation to the UK CCCC on our behavioural work. We are conscious and aware of the challenge. We think that we have some useful work that will help that. A summary of that work will accompany the draft climate change plan, and I know that the member will welcome that. Edward Mountain, to be followed by Angus MacDonald. I, too, would like to thank the cabinet secretary for sight of her statement earlier. Professor Robin Matthews of the Hutton Institute suggested that restoring 21,000 hectares of peatland annually would contribute to an 8 per cent reduction in the Scottish carbon emissions. The minister has announced, and I welcome it, expenditure of £400,000 in this coming year, which, however, on previous performance will deliver less than 15 per cent of the target. My question is, is the Government being ambitious enough in peatland restoration much of which is in the area that I represent, the region that I represent? I thank Edward Mountain for his question. This is one of the general areas that we accept as a challenge for us and that we need to do more in, and it is one of the areas in which we are looking at very closely. The peatland plan recognises the multiple benefits of peatlands and the linkages with a number of policy drivers such as biodiversity and climate change. Some of those policies include a target for restoration. The member may be aware of the biodiversity route map that contributes to the EU 15 per cent restoration target. We are looking at peatlands in the context of the forthcoming climate change action plan, so it is a serious issue. Through the SNH-led peatland action, more than 5,000 hectares were restored in 2014-15 and almost 4,000 in 2015-16, but I would be the first to agree that that has to be increased substantially. Many of the peatland areas are in private ownership and I hope that the member will not take it amiss if I suggest gently that private landowners must also think about some of the actions that they can take as well. The cabinet secretary will be aware of the need for the UK to have a national determined contribution, or NDC, under the Paris agreement. The EU member states opted to implement jointly their commitments under the climate treaties. Therefore, given the complexity of the issue that the EU submitted in NDC to cover the period 2020-25 on behalf of all EU member states, however, as a result of Brexit, the UK will now have to complete its own NDC and it needs to be done soon. Does the cabinet secretary share my concern that the UK Government will not have the capacity to complete its own NDC in time and can ask her to raise the issue with her UK counterpart while she is in Marrakesh? With your permission, I will remain standing for the remainder of this. I am having a slight problem with my back and being up and down is causing a difficulty. If I could respond to Angus MacDonald's question, I appreciate his interest in that, but perhaps it is just a little far down the road for us to be able to deal with at the moment. Obviously, COP 22 is currently under way in Marrakesh, and I will be part of the UK representation there, as will colleagues from Westminster. The UK is a party to the UNFCCC individually, as well as through the EU, and we will be bound by all the obligations of the agreement under international law. The UK stresses that it remains committed to international efforts to tackle climate change. At present, at any level, we are continuing to be a member of the EU, so existing rules apply. I understand that Norway and Iceland have both submitted INDCs to the Paris agreement, although they will deliver their commitment through a collective delivery with the EU and its member states. The EU-NDC covers a period to 2030. We are perhaps just a little premature in trying to have that conversation at the moment, but it is one that people know has to be had. Richard Leonard, followed by Mark Ruskell. In his statement, the cabinet secretary said that 21,000 people are employed in low-carbon and renewable energy in Scotland. That is very welcome. Does she agree with me that, with a long-term plan for the economy, including planning agreements with renewable energy companies and with an active industrial policy in place from her Government, those job numbers could be increased substantially in the future, not least in our indigenous steel industry, our engineering industries and in our manufacturing supply base? The things that we are investigating very closely for the climate change plan is an issue that is at the forefront of our mind, because there are real economic opportunities with the advent of tackling climate change. Equally, we need to look at some of the existing industries to see how they can be recast as well. There is a deal of work being done on that particular basis. There are aspects of what we are doing that are already built into the manufacturing strategy, so that all the work that we do on waste and the circular economy is embedded throughout the manufacturing strategy. We are beginning to see that going through all the portfolio areas, and that will begin to show the effects. I hope very much that the member and myself and I suspect that most people in the chamber would like to see. Do I have to instruct you to stay standing, cabinet secretary? I'm on autopilot, I'm afraid. Mark Ruskell, followed by Tavish Scott. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance copy of her statement and look forward to testing the climate plan when it emerges in January. In terms of the international perspective, while we now have a climate denier in the White House, hope has not been extinguished across America. States, including New York, California and Colorado, have joined with Scotland and regional governments around the world to limit global warming to less than two degrees through the under two MOU initiative that you mentioned by yourself, cabinet secretary. States are representing almost a third of the world's economy. What specific actions will the Scottish Government be taking with those progressive US states around innovation, research and investment, so that whatever chaos emerges from the White House, we stay collectively focused on the jobs that will come from tackling climate change? I welcome that question, because I think that that is one of the key things that this Marrakesh opportunity gives us, is the ability to immediately make connections along the lines that he is raising through that MOU, but also through the climate group, which brings together a wide range of state, what might one call, sub-state NGOs, etc., where a great deal of work can be done. We must not forget that that is where Scotland sits, Scotland in that sense. However much I might wish it to be other at the moment sits there as an equivalent to the likes of Colorado, et cetera. I go to Marrakesh on Saturday with the ability to talk about the great success that we have had in Scotland, but I also go to Marrakesh with an open mind in order to learn from others, because others will have come up with ideas that I think we may be able to translate to our situation. I very much hope that I get an opportunity to have the kind of engagement that I think is essential going forward. I very much hope that it starts when I arrive in Marrakesh on Saturday. Tavish Scott, followed by Fulton MacGregor. I am sorry, but it is possible that you should invite us all just to sit down and stay sitting down, which would be more helpful to the cabinet secretary. Can I thank her too for a copy of the statement? Does she share mine and many other people's concern that the president-elect of the United States has actually vowed to cancel the Paris agreement altogether? In those circumstances, when she does go to Marrakesh on Saturday, will she, with ministerial colleagues from across the country, use the much-vaunted special relationship to bring pressure on the incoming administration to address exactly that point? Has she also noticed the helpful briefing in today's press and journal, which illustrates that the Scottish Government might specifically have a particular route direct to the Scottish Government to raise this and indeed other issues as well? I cannot say who from the incoming administration may be in Marrakesh. I would have anticipated that there will be a number of people from the current administration, but of course it is the current administration that has signed up to the Paris agreement. I am conscious of some of the things that the president-elect has said in respect of climate change. It is not just about the denial, it is about his intention to cut federal funding for climate change activity, his intention to restart a coal industry. He has already, in a sense, signalled with some of the early appointments that he might make that this may be a challenge, but, as I indicated before, I think that we have to try and be as optimistic as possible and keep in mind that people will suffer the impact of climate change, regardless of what their leadership may or may not believe in. It is going to be a significant concern for considerable parts of the United States of America, as it is for every other part of the world, and sooner or later, I think that that will have to be dealt with. I also understand that it may not be quite so straightforward to now reverse ferret out of the Paris agreement, as might otherwise be thought. It may take three or four years. Let us hope that, in that three or four years, we can all of us, in every way that we have, available to us, effect change in the administration's views. Can I say? We have had quite long questions and answers and I am able to give a little bit extra time, because I am very keen to get everyone in. If we could be a little shorter in questions and answers, and if you could please remain on your feet, Ms Cunningham, Fulton MacGregor, to be followed by Alexander Burnett. Tackling climate change is a major challenge that requires effort by each and every one of us. The cabinet secretary's leadership is hugely valuable, but does she agree with me that every minister in her Government and every MSP in this chamber should see themselves as a climate change champion? We all have our part to play in this. That is not just ministers, that is every MSP, indeed every household. I can give the chamber this assurance that my colleagues are united in their determination to ensure that Scotland's record on climate change continues to set an example for the rest of the UK. We take our responsibilities very seriously indeed, and they hear from me on this fairly frequently. It is a big challenge and there is a huge challenge in some sectors, and there is no point in us pretending that it is not challenging. Some of the things that we need to do are not easy and they are not going to be easy, but our goal is to cut emissions while building a successful low-carbon economy. That is back to the comments that Richard Leonard made, one that generates jobs, increases prosperity and, of course, improves health and makes Scotland a cleaner, greener place to live. Those conversations are had not just at the sub-committee on climate change level but also at an informal level as well. Oh yes would have been enough, cabinet secretary. I said oh yes would have been enough. Alexander Burnett followed by Stuart Stevenson. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance notice of her statement. As she will be aware, the national performance framework outcomes are targets that the Scottish Government aspires to meet. Outcome 14 states that the Scottish Government will reduce the local and global environmental impact of our consumption and production. How does the cabinet secretary square this with importing frat gas from America and the additional carbon cost that this incurs? Mr Burnett is nothing if not persistent on this particular issue, but I think that I answered him yesterday on this. I think that I kind of talked about this yesterday. The energy minister has made very clear what we are doing in respect of this. He has laid out the plan for the future. The energy strategy will be published alongside the climate change plan in January. I think that we have been absolutely crystal clear on our approach on this. I hope that the member will accept that that is what is going to happen. Snappy questions and answers, please. Stuart Stevenson, to be followed by Mark Griffin. Does the cabinet secretary recall hearing a long line of assurances to our island communities about the future of remote onshore island wind, a rather odd description? Yesterday was our highly suspicious day for announcing that we were reneging on those promises, hoping it to be buried by other news. Should we now make common cause with Maurice Golden, who said that infrastructure needs to be put in place and others of progressive nature on climate change in this Parliament to get that decision overturned? Roseanna Cunningham. I would certainly welcome support across the chamber, including from the Conservatives, that was a long-awaited announcement. It was very disappointing on a number of fronts. I am not quite sure what the timing was all about. I will let others draw their own conclusions on that. We have repeatedly sought assurances from UK ministers. It is a matter of regret that this Government was not consulted before the announcement. That is unfortunate because our islands have huge renewable energy potential, possibly the best in the whole of Europe. Mark Griffin, to be followed by Clare Haughey. I can ask the cabinet secretary how the Government supports families living in fuel poverty to reduce the consumption, reduce their carbon emissions and reduce the cost of their fuel bills. Without the Government's support and intervention, it is unlikely that we would ever see those emissions savings realised. Roseanna Cunningham. One of the things that we will be doing through the energy efficiency programme is going to be designed to try and support people through that whole process with the intention, ideally, of dealing both with the emissions side of the issue and the fuel poverty side of the issue. The work that is committed in that particular programme will include support for households, and I hope that the member will welcome that and welcome the considerable financial commitment that is going to be made over the term of this Parliament in that particular area. The last quick question, please, Clare Haughey. Does the cabinet secretary share my view that recent events at home and abroad underline the need for concerted international co-operation in the fight against climate change? I am not sure that there is very much that I can add to what I have already said in this particular area, but 2016 has just been one of those years. There has been seismic political change here in the UK and now in the United States. However, as I have indicated before, politics may change, but the science has not. Politics may change, but the impact of climate change will not. The need for concerted global action is just as great now as it was before. That concludes the statement and question session. We will move on to the next item of business, if people could change their seats accordingly.