 Diolch yn fawr. Y dyfodol y bydd yn ystod iaith iechyd i unrhyw yng Nghymru. Mae Gwaith Gweithreit ynghyd i Gael Ysgol Aelod, na gyda blawd, oherwydd ei ddarlunio amser a fyddwn e'r dyfodol ei wneud i'r bydd ystod iaith. Rydyn ni oedd gan gael pryd i unrhyw mlynedig ac rydyn ni oedd i unrhyw gweithreit o gwaith i 10 min ac i gael. Arwef iaith eich hoffi ddiwedat hwnnw. Oni'r cymryd ymlaen, dyfodol eich cyddur a'r gwaethion Scotland has halved our emissions since 1990, but the most challenging part of the journey lies ahead. That's why the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero will be at COP28 this week to share our experience and to learn from others on how we secure a future for both people and planet. We've got a legal obligation to make this journey to which all parties in Parliament signed up, but this is not just because the law says we must, and it's not just because floods and fires show us we have to act. And it's not even just because of the huge economic opportunity for Scotland, an opportunity that we set out as one of this Government's three defining missions, but fundamentally because it's in the interests of the people this Parliament represents. That's true in the way that we heat our homes and buildings, and the opportunity to free people from dependence on fossil fuels and the volatile prices that drive fuel poverty and to free the world from reliance on the brutal and authoritarian regimes that control so much of the global fossil fuel market. That's why I'm publishing today consultations on proposals that, if Parliament approves, will give the leadership and clarity Scotland needs to make the transition to clean heat by 2045. I've had the great fortune in this job to see first-hand the countless examples of that heat transition already underway. A retired man telling me about how clean heating had transformed the comfort of the suburban bungalow that he and his late wife had shared for decades. A family in Lochaber amazed at the reduction in their bills after moving from LPG heating to a heat pump. New homes being built to a zero emissions standard from Shetland to the centre of Edinburgh by developers choosing to act well ahead of our new build heat standard, which comes into force next April. A visit to a heat pump manufacturer in Glasgow, investing in the new jobs and skills that Scotland needs, listening to how Argyll Community Housing Association already has more than a quarter of its 5,000 homes using heat pumps, one of many social landlords leading the way and doing so in some of Scotland's most rural settings. Just yesterday, I visited the new heat network in Edinburgh's waterfront, one of a rapidly growing number of heat networks here in Scotland. Presiding Officer, the move to clean heating is not just for tomorrow, it is already here today. Our role and our responsibility, which all parties in Parliament share, is to give the certainty and long-term time horizon that accelerates that growing trend. It will give households the information that they need to plan and give businesses the confidence to invest. We do that by providing the most generous package of financial support in any of the UK nations. Just last week, I welcomed the first report of the green heat finance task force, outlining the enormous appetite from private funders to support that work as well. We do that in stark contrast to a UK Government that seems more interested in exploiting climate as a political dividing line than in rising to the challenge. A Prime Minister whose climate U-turns in September may have a bigger direct impact in England, but whose signals have a profound impact on what consumers here and what businesses need throughout the UK. Today, we take that forward by setting out a clear framework of regulation that takes us from now through to 2045, working with the gradient of consumer demand and industry capacity. Firstly, to tackle fuel poverty, reduce energy bills and increase home comfort, we intend to regulate to ensure that Scotland's homes meet minimum energy standards. Privately rented homes to meet a minimum energy efficiency standard no later than 2028. Own or occupied homes to meet the same minimum energy efficiency standard by 2033. A new net zero standard for homes in the social rented sector comprises a new and higher energy efficiency standard between 2033 and 2040, and all homes moving to clean heat by 2045. Secondly, I want to help heat networks to grow to meet their full potential of up to a third of heat demand. There are currently more than 1,000 heat networks in Scotland, but many are small. That is why we are consulting on new powers to safeguard those locations and circumstances where heat networks are most attractive and to ensure that heat networks are viable in those places. Thirdly, we are consulting on all homes and non-domestic buildings ending their use of polluting heating by 2045, with staging posts along the way to avoid a bottleneck as we approach that deadline. If agreed in the first instance, people buying a home or non-domestic property before 2045 would end their use of polluting heating systems within a specific and reasonable period following that purchase, with a set of exemptions and abeyances to reflect different circumstances. Fourthly, in order to demonstrate public leadership, we intend to set an earlier target of 2038 for all public buildings to have clean heat. I want to turn now to address the issues of timing, scale and pace. I have already confirmed that the key dates in our 2021 heat and building strategy remain in place. 2028, the minimum energy standards for private rented homes, 2033, the minimum energy standards for other private homes, 2038 for public buildings to be zero carbon and 2045 for all buildings to be zero carbon. I can also set out our intention to have by 2025 the main legislative foundation in place for the heat transition. However, as I have walked through stakeholder feedback, detailed evidence and the very significant changes in the cost pressures facing households and businesses over the past two years, I can now set out a more detailed timescale for the current decade. If by 2025 Parliament approves the bill that I intend to bring forward, that will require detailed secondary legislation, and that will take us into the next Parliament before those regulations have an impact. That means that it might be 2028 at the earliest before the first home or building owners are required to act under the terms of those regulations in order to ensure that we are fair, just and proportionate. That timeline in turn has two implications. First, the position that we set out in our 2021 strategy of starting the heat transition at different times in off-gas and on-gas areas, 2025 and 2030 respectively, is no longer our intended approach. A single timeline taking effect from 2028 is fairer and clearer. We will still be taking account of the different contexts in urban and rural areas, but through our delivery programmes, our funding and our use of exemptions rather than primary legislation. Secondly, our intention for clean heat to play the maximum possible role in our 2030 climate plans would have meant more than a million homes decarbonising by 2030. The single timeline that I have now set out from 2028 means that that scale of change is not achievable by that date, and more of the transition to clean heat shuts into the early 2030s instead. That approach allows us to gain the full benefits of the technological innovation that is already taking place, to build a workforce capacity, consumer demand and economies of scale that we will need. The timeline that I am outlining today sees Scotland on by far the most ambitious path within the UK, with the deployment of clean heating systems that scale and pace very much faster than the prevailing take-up rate. Coupled with our pioneering work on the new build heat standard, on standards for social housing, on energy efficiency, on driving the development of heat networks into the next decade and beyond, and to repeat, providing the most generous package of funding support in the UK, it is clear that Scotland can have the most ambitious zero-carbon programme for buildings ever seen in the UK. I know that there are some people in this chamber and beyond who regard clean heating merely as the latest front in a climate culture war. They can expect to be disappointed. The days of heating our homes and buildings with fossil fuel and polluting systems are numbered. However, during that consultation, I intend to take an open and constructive approach with any MSP and any party choosing to take this issue seriously. Not just political parties but a wide range of stakeholders, from businesses investing in clean heat to fuel poverty campaigners, from private landlords to funders. Bring forward positive ideas and I will listen. That consultation and our final proposal will be shaped by those views. However, for those who wish to pretend that the heat transition is not necessary or who want to treat this as a shallow political game, or those who trade in vague promises with nothing to back them up, they will not only be abandoning the commitments that they made when they voted for the climate targets. Not only betraying the clear majority of the public who want ambitious climate action, they would also be undermining Scotland, as we seek the maximum social, environmental and economic opportunity from this ambitious transition. That would serve no one. Today is the next big step in meeting our climate ambitions and embracing a warmer and cleaner future. Let's all rise to that challenge. Thank you minister. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes more questions after which time we will move on to the next item of business, and it would be helpful if those members who would wish to ask a question were to press the request to speak buttons and I call Miles Briggs. Thank you deputy, Presiding Officer. Can I thank the minister for advanced sight of his statement as well? For home owners in Scotland, today will mark the start of a 10-year time bomb for over half of Scotland's home owners. SNP and Green ministers have come to the chamber today with a timescale, but not a plan on how they will achieve what they are set out. There is absolutely nothing in the statement today to provide reassurances that SNP and Green ministers understand the true costs that will face home owners the length of breadth of Scotland. Estimates have suggested that a rural property, for example, may cost over £30,000 to achieve the minimum energy efficiency standards. Can I ask the minister what estimation of the costs of compliance for the average home has been undertaken? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if Miles Briggs thinks that giving 10 years notice of this coming in is in some way bad for home owners. I think it's really important that we give people clarity to plan and businesses clarity and timescale to invest. That long-term time horizon is what will drive up investment in skills, in capacity and in innovation. He should also be aware that the first report from the GreenHeat Finance Task Force published last week begins to set out some of the innovation that is happening, for example, in financial products—green mortgages and other forms of driving more investment. In terms of the assessment of the overall cost, that will vary significantly throughout the country and in different building types. That's why part of the consultation is looking at the issue of abeyances and exemptions to look at different circumstances. However, I hope that Miles Briggs and his party colleagues will come to recognise not only that heat transition is necessary but that investing in it and giving people a long-term time horizon to plan for it will maximise the economic benefits to Scotland and the cost-saving benefits to households in the long run. I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement and draw members' attention to my register of interests. Time scales for action are already slipping since the first heat and building strategy was published. Why is it taking two years, as people need to have homes now that are affordable to heat and power? We've been told that £33 billion is needed from that strategy, so where's the money coming from? Minister, people don't need warm words, they need warm homes and they need Scottish Government leadership. Given that the failure to spend £133 million on retrofitting last year, what lessons have been learned so that people don't get ripped off when they try to do the right thing? I think that it's really important that we take account not only of the cost of living pressures that many people have been facing in the last couple of years, and that is one of the reasons why we have to adapt our plans to cope with what people can realistically afford but also look through the implications of the UK Government climb down on climate a couple of months ago. Some of the direct impacts from Rysi Sunaq's bizarre speech announcing the scrapping of climate action, some of those direct impacts will be felt more significantly in England, but on investment we already see the UK slipping down the league table of green investment, and that will have an impact if we don't counter that narrative here. It's really important that, as investors look across Europe and the wider world at where they want to put their money investing in net zero, we need to send a crystal clear signal that Scotland is serious about getting this job done and that Scotland is serious about making sure that this is an attractive place for that investment to come to make this possible. In terms of the commitments that we've already made, Sarah Boyack is aware that we've committed £1.8 billion over the course of this Parliament. Over a billion of that has already been committed through the budget process, as we're at the halfway point in this Parliament, and we'll continue to build on that strong track record. I call Marie McNair to be followed by Douglas Lambson. Queens Quay, in my constituency where my office is located, has the first 100 per cent carbon-free district heating system in the UK. It heats council buildings, West College Scotland, Clydebank Ledger Centre and a new care home. This is a great example of the delivery of carbon-free energy. Can the minister advise what emphasis will be put on the expansion of this and other major heat network projects to help to deliver more green energy to homes and businesses? Absolutely right to draw attention to this. It's an excellent example, not just at a technical level, about how heat networks can provide affordable, reliable and decarbonised heat, but also at an economic level, where leadership by the local authority is making sure that we get the maximum social benefit of developing that. We've already worked with our colleagues in Denmark. We've already passed in the last session of Parliament heat network legislation. Just last week, I brought a target to the Parliament for the amount of heat that we expect to see delivered through heat networks by 2035. Almost all political parties managed to bring themselves to support that target. That's the kind of signal that we need to give to ensure that local authorities, social landlords and other organisations see the delivery of heat networks, decarbonising existing networks and the expansion of new ones as a huge opportunity for them to meet this heat transition in a way that works for their local community. I call Douglas Lumsons, we follow by Ivan McKee. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I ask the minister what punishment there will be for homeowners who fail to carry out the required work after the purchase of a property from 2033? The consultation seems to suggest that civil penalties or building societies and banks getting involved. Can the minister guarantee us that homeowners will never be punished or even evicted by the building society for non-compliance? I encourage Mr Lumsons to read the detail of the consultation documents that we have published today. I am not sure whether he wants to hear the response. I encourage Mr Lumsons and all members to read the detail of what we have published today, as well as reading the GreenHeat Finance Task Force, which some in the media have picked up on individual lines relating to things such as council tax. The vast bulk of what we have written in the Task Force report and what we have written in the documents that we are consulting on is about support, incentives and making the system work for people. We have looked at the option of civil penalties in relation to landlords who fail their tenants by not investing in bringing them up to standard. We have not suggested that there would be, at least in the foreseeable future, a role for civil penalties in relation to homeowners. Once again, the balance of the benefit of the heat transition will be achieved if we place far more emphasis on support and incentives rather than amplifying people's fears by using words like punishment. Domestic heat pumps and other technologies that are powered by electricity while very welcome will require significant upgrades to the electricity grid, particularly alongside the roll-out of EV charging points. Can I ask what detailed analysis the Scottish Government has done to ensure that grid capacity will be in place to support the delivery of its heat and building strategy in the targeted timeframes, and is that analysis in the public domain? We obviously engage with the network operators as well as with Ofgem on that. Ivan McKee is quite right that the application of electrification to heat and transport has implications for grid upgrades. It also offers opportunities, because as we see more storage in either vehicles or domestic energy storage with heat or electricity, it gives us the opportunity for the energy providers to use smart tariffs to ensure that we are getting the maximum benefit from low-cost renewables when those are coming on to the grid in large volumes, and then people can use that energy when they need it. There are advantages from this issue, not just challenges in terms of grid upgrades, but we engage actively, as I say, with the network operators and with Ofgem. We believe that there is capacity in the system to continue to develop in line with the trajectory that we are taking on heat decarbonisation, but I am sure that that is something that the committee will continue to take an active interest in in not only the months but the years ahead. The statement says nothing at all about how we reduce the amount of heat we need. My constituents suffer the highest level of fuel poverty in Scotland due to living in old, drafty and poorly insulated homes. There is nothing at all in the statement about insulation and how we tackle the fabric of our buildings. Can I ask when he is going to address that fundamental question? I am sorry that Rhoda Grant gets that impression. I did address the issues of energy efficiency standards in both the private rented and the owner-occupied sector in my speech, and the detail in the consultation documents will go into that as well. The work that we have done prior to the current consultation on the issue of EPC reform also addresses how we give people the information that they need to invest in their homes in order to reduce energy demand. The work that we have done to extend the fabric first measures, the energy efficiency only measures in the social rented sector, is also important. That was an ask from the social rented sector to extend the funding for that type of investment, and we have responded positively to it. Hydrogen will play a vital role in Scotland's future net zero economy and could and should play a part in heating our homes as we move forward. Can the minister please outline what engagement he has had with the UK Government, academics, energy companies and industry leaders to ensure that Scotland fulfills its hydrogen potential? Scotland has immense potential in the production of green hydrogen and the application of that to decarbonising many aspects of our economy. I think that there is an emerging consensus that that will play a very significant role in some parts of our transport system, in industry, in a number of sectors. However, I think that there is an expectation that it will not play a central role in home heating. In order to generate renewable electricity, convert it into hydrogen, transport the hydrogen, convert it back into power that can be applied in heating, we will always have efficiency losses every stage of the way. Using that renewable electricity directly, especially with devices like heat pumps that achieve so much more than 100 per cent efficiency by drawing energy from the ambient environment, will have far greater benefit. I think that the UK Government is also moving now to a position that we took some time ago of recognising that hydrogen may have some role to play in heating, but it is not expected to be a central one. We do, of course, continue to engage with all stakeholders interested in the green hydrogen economy in a wider sense, and we in no way play down or seek to ignore the immense opportunity that hydrogen will have for our economy and for the rest of our energy system and industrial uses. As the First Minister jets off to Dubai for COP28, his Government is downgrading its plans to decarbonise buildings. What was a clear mission to get 1 million homes on to climate friendly heating by 2030 has now gone. In relation to the first hurdle in 2028 of getting private rented homes up to minimum standards, what will the minister do differently given that the only Government support scheme for the sector has upgraded just 215 properties in three years? The reality is that, as a result of the decisions that I have announced today, Scotland will have, by far and away, the most ambitious programme of heat decarbonisation of any part of the UK. That is a very sharp contrast with the announcements of the UK Government in scrapping important measures on energy efficiency. It obviously announced that it was scrapping some non-existent policies as well in a bit of a pantomime bit of rhetoric, but it scrapped really significant policies on heat decarbonisation as well. That Government is taking absolutely the opposite approach of taking an approach that is achievable, affordable but also ambitious and making sure that we offer the most generous package of grants and loans to householders in Scotland to ensure that that is achievable. Denmark is a European leader in district heating as recognised by the Scottish Government when it signed my memorandum of understanding on the green energy transition with the Danish Government in 2021. How is Scotland sharing best practice with our neighbours as we expand our heat and air work ambitions, a key part of the heat and building strategy? We have engaged actively with colleagues from Denmark who advised the Government in the last session of Parliament on the shaping and framing of the heat networks legislation. I have also had the opportunity to visit and see the continued expansion of heat networks. It is important to recognise that Denmark is a country that has had 50 years' experience in building modern heat networks, which now covers something like two thirds of households in Denmark. We do not have 50 years to wait to decarbonise our homes. We need to act faster, so heat networks will play an important role, so will individual systems such as heat pumps. We will continue to be informed by our European partners, including those who are already installing clean heating systems at a significantly faster rate than they have been in previous years. Those are lessons that we need to learn and we need to show that Scotland is going to gain the greatest possible economic benefit from joining that rapid heat transition. If we force people living in tenements to pay potentially runous amounts of money, that could be a breach of human rights. That is why we set up the tenement maintenance working group in the last session. It is why this whole area of law reform now sits with the Scottish Law Commission. Does the minister not agree that if he wants to make the sweeping changes that he wants to make, it should be done in conjunction with the work that the Scottish Law Commission is undertaking? Absolutely. We have also been working with the tenement short life working group at a meeting with the chair just last week to talk about their recommendations. I have said before, and I will say again, that when we frame as a result of the consultation and the views that we will hear in this consultation, as we frame some of the exemptions and abeyances, I do not think that anyone will be under any surprise that traditional tenements may well take significantly longer than the rest of the housing stock, and very many of them will be the ones that need to benefit from heat networks rather than individual flat by flat heating systems. We are absolutely going to work with the grain of the technology development that is taking place, absolutely going to work with the grain of the recommendations that come from the short life working group. As a tenement dweller myself, I understand the challenges, but I know that people, including my constituents, and I imagine Mr Simpson's constituents as well, want the solutions, and that is what this Government is determined to give them. I really welcome the clarity that the minister has set out the pathway to 2045. I also welcome the stark contrast of our trajectory with the UK Government, because the Prime Minister's decision to scrap minimum energy efficiency standards for private landlords will cost tenants in England £8 billion over the next decade in higher bills. Can the minister confirm that private landlords in Scotland will be required to meet minimum energy efficiency standards, and can he outline what the benefit will be as a result of Scotland's 300,000 private tenants? Yes, absolutely. I think that I have been very clear in the statement about the 2028 target that we intend to bring forward on minimum energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector. Mark Ruskell rightly talks about the cumulative impact across the whole UK of the UK Government's decision to scrap that policy, but just thinking about the household by household impact, some £300 a year added to the bills of PRS households because of that decision by the UK Government to scrap their policy. We will not impose those additional costs on people, and if the UK Government was remotely serious about making the transition to net zero affordable, what they have done is break the link between electricity and gas prices rather than adding even more to the energy bills of people in the PRS. That is not the approach that Scotland will take. Much of the discussion about heating in the future has been around heat pumps, but in a lot of situations it seems that district heat networks or communal heating systems are better suited. Does the minister agree that heat networks should be a bigger part of the picture, and if so, what actions is the Scottish Government taking around that? Yes, absolutely. There will be places where individual household by household or building by building solutions are going to be right, but there will be many parts of Scotland where district heat networks and communal systems across large multi-occupancy buildings will be the right way to go. As I said earlier, we have learned a great deal from the experience of our colleagues in Denmark. Last week we took forward the secondary legislation to set the 2035 heat target of seven terawatt hours of heat through heat networks to Parliament, and that was agreed. The range of support that we have from the heat network support unit, sharing the skills and expertise to bring projects forward, the heat network fund to invest both in pre-capital and capital support that is needed to bring those networks to fruition, and working with a wide range of institutional investors who see that as a great place to put their money. I would far rather that all of our collective pension funds, for example, were invested in the kind of technology that we need in Scotland, such as heat networks, rather than in some of the industries that are making this problem worse. What does the minister have to say to people whose homes cannot physically be retrofitted? Last year, 1,464 photovoltaic devices were installed with loans of £7.25 million from the Scottish Government. This scheme has now been scrapped, unless combined with a renewable heating system that not everyone can afford. Surely half a loaf is better than no bread, and people should not be discouraged from installing solar panels, given their positive impact on climate change. We certainly do not discourage people from installing solar far from it. In fact, no funding for a solar was scrapped. The same funding is available. We need to maximise the heat decarbonisation potential of that funding, and that is why we changed some of the rules on how people access that funding. Just recently, the Scottish Government published a 10-fold ambition for expanding the deployment of solar in Scotland. It has huge potential not just to add renewable energy on to our grid, but to ensure that householders, businesses and communities are generating some income for themselves in order to re-invest in the built environment. I am just seeing that the first response from the chief executive of the climate change committee has responded to our proposal, saying that those are bold proposals to decarbonise Scotland's buildings and that they recognise the importance of a long-term plan with a welcome focus on upgrading properties at the point of sale. I very much hope that that spirit of co-operation and constructive engagement is going to characterise our political debate on that issue over the coming months.