 The next item of business is a statement by Mary McCallan on climate change committee Scotland report next steps. Before we move to that item of business, I want to make the following remarks. Important aspects of this afternoon's statement have been reported in various media outlets. Where the government chooses to share information pertaining to any ministerial statement in advance of that statement being made, the government remains responsible for ensuring that such information is not reported by the media before the Parliament learns of it. I have spoken to the Minister for Parliamentary Business and I have asked that the Cabinet Secretary apologises to the chamber for this breach of our long-established good practice guidance on announcements. The chamber will be aware that I have previously disallowed or truncated statements. However, the information reported in the press today is key to actions that may impact on legislation in this Parliament and the way that the Government is held accountable by the Parliament. Additionally, there is information in the statement that has not been previously reported. For those reasons, as I do not wish to disadvantage other members, I intend to allow the statement to be made, but I would remind the Government in the strongest terms possible that this Parliament must be given its proper place. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and there will be no interruptions or interventions during her statement. I call on the cabinet secretary. Presiding Officer, please allow me to begin by setting out my regret and indeed my apology to you and to the chamber for the media speculation that has surrounded the content of my statement today. I regret it because I take the integrity of the Parliament very seriously and your role within that, but equally because it has made it more difficult for me to communicate something that requires very careful nuance and detailed communication. I have asked the permanent secretary, as a matter of urgency, to conduct an internal investigation into the circumstances. The race to net zero is one that we must all win. I want to begin by affirming this Government's unwavering commitment to ending our contribution to global emissions by 2045 at the latest, as agreed by Parliament on a cross-party basis. I was grateful for the latest report from the Committee on Climate Change on our progress in reducing emissions. The CCC are a key partner in our net zero journey and their insights are essential. Its report recognised much to be proud of, including the Government's provision of free bus travel to all under 22s, our work delivering more woodland in Scotland in a year than any other UK nations combined, and our work in decarbonising heat and buildings, noting that it could become a template for the rest of the UK. Considerable progress is also being made in energy. Scotland is becoming a renewables powerhouse with 87.9 per cent of electricity generation coming from zero or low carbon sources in 2022. Those are just some of the examples of the considerable work that has been taken by the UK Government. The UK Government sees us nearly halfway to net zero, narrowly missing our most recent annual emission reduction target, but still decarbonising faster than the UK average. Quite rightly, just as with the UK Government, the CCC challenges us to go further. That is exactly what we will do. As today I am announcing a new package of climate action measures that we will deliver with partners to support Scotland's transition to net zero. Scotland's vehicle is happening apace. Indeed, major car manufacturers have named the day when they will cease manufacture of new petrol and diesel vehicles. Scotland has long been at the forefront of helping people to make the transition to EVs, but now we will go further, working in partnership to more than quadruple the number of electric vehicle charge points across Scotland. Collaborating across the public and private sector, Scotland will see approximately 24,000 additional charge points by 2030. That will help ease any remaining range anxiety that people may feel and make sure that going electric is an option for every part of our nation. To make public transport fit better with people's lives and to encourage us all to choose more sustainable transport, we will also explore a new national integrated ticketing system for public transport in Scotland. We will encourage and support operators across all modes of transport to participate in this project, which aims to enable passengers to use one ticketing system for all elements of a journey. We will help people to be less reliant on cars, and we will publish a route map to help to deliver a 20 per cent reduction in car use. That will not be a one-size-fits-all, top-down approach. We understand that Urban and Rural Scotland will contribute differently to that, and our Just Transition Plan for Transport will ensure support for all communities. Turning to other vehicles, we will support the transition away from petrol and diesel vans. Working with business, including the largest companies for an initial phase and in line with our new deal for business principles, we will develop plans and support mechanisms to accelerate the switch to zero emission technologies and more sustainable modes. We understand the importance of this transition to small businesses and independent traders in particular, and we will ensure that their needs are at the heart of this work. Scotland's Food and Drink is a significant national success story, and food security is important to this Government. That is why we are supporting our farming community to continue producing food while lowering emissions. The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs is working with the sector to deliver that, including through the on-going Agricultural and Rural Communities Bill and the Agriculture Reform Board that she co-chairs with the National Farmers Union of Scotland. We want to do more to support our agricultural sector to lead the way in regenerative farming and food production. That is why we will take forward a pilot scheme with some Scottish farms to establish future appropriate uptake of methane-suppressing food products or additives, a key measure to reduce emissions from livestock where practical. Some of those additives are being pioneered here in Scotland, so we look forward to working on this homegrown innovation. Proportionate carbon audits will also be required for farmers receiving public support by 2028 at the latest. Nutrient management plans will build on this and be integrated into the whole farm plans. We will also accelerate our regional land use partnerships with up to three new areas coming into the initiative over the next year, recognising, of course, that successful partnerships are those driven by communities. To further accelerate peatland restoration, we will investigate how partial rewetting coexists with continued agricultural activity and access to agricultural support, including investing up to £1 million in pilot projects. This summer, we will also launch a consultation on carbon land tax on the largest estates as part of considering regulatory and fiscal measures that could further incentivise peatland restoration, afforestation and renewable energy production. We are also considering the recommendations from the GreenHeat Finance Task Force to review and publish by the end of the year analysis of how non-domestic rates relief can better support our climate ambitions and encourage investment in energy efficiency and clean heating systems. That will be developed working closely with the business community in line with New Deal for Business principles. Scotland is distinguished by the importance that we place on a just transition. We will publish our final energy strategy and just transition plan this summer to be followed by draft plans for agriculture, transport, buildings and construction. Moreover, following the publication of a just transition plan for Grangemouth, I can confirm today that we will co-develop a just transition plan for Ms Moran. Those policies again emphasise the critical role that Scottish businesses and industry play in our net zero transformation and we will work closely with them throughout delivery. Reflecting on the recent Audit Scotland report on climate change governance, we will redouble efforts to ensure that net zero is fully considered in our workforce, spending, policy development and structures, starting with the full roll-out of a net zero assessment in the Scottish Government from the end of 2024. To ensure that spending across the public sector reflects our net zero ambitions, we will work with COSLA, including through our climate delivery framework, to understand wider public sector spend and opportunities for action. Finally, we will propose the establishment of a four nations climate response group, with a remit including climate financing and the balance of reserved and devolved powers. Those policies sit alongside extensive on-going work and will be built on through our next climate change plan and our green industrial strategy. With this ambitious new package, allow there to be no doubt about the seriousness with which this Government treats the climate and nature crisis and our readiness to act to deliver. We must, however, acknowledge that we do so in difficult circumstances. The climate change committee is clear and I quote that the UK is already substantially off track for 2030 and achieving future UK carbon budgets will I quote require sustained increase in the pace and breadth of decarbonisation across most major sectors. Indeed, we do see climate back tracking at UK level. With severe budgetary restrictions imposed by the UK Government and under the continuing constraints of devolution, we are trying to achieve societal and economic transformation with one hand tied behind our back. Indeed, such is the UK's unprecedented economic mismanagement that full delivery of our plans will be contingent on the UK Government reversing the 9 per cent cut to our capital budget. This Government and Parliament, we rightly have high ambitions and it's beyond doubt that investing now in net zero is the right thing for our environment, our society and our economy, but we are being held back. I am asking MSPs from across the chamber to work with us to call on the UK Government to reverse Scotland's capital cut. Whilst the Opposition quite rightly demand that the Scottish Government take urgent action to address the climate crisis, if they are serious about this challenge, they must now stand with us in support of today's policy package and the remainder of the work that we are taking forward across this year and the coming years and do that instead of opposing the measures that we propose. In this challenging context of cuts, the UK backtracking, we accept the CCC's recent rearticulation that this Parliament's interim 2030 target is out of reach. We must now act to chart a course to 2045 at a pace and a scale that is feasible, fair and just. With that in mind, I can today confirm that working with Parliament on a timetable the Scottish Government will bring forward expedited legislation to address matters raised by the CCC and ensure our legislative framework better reflects the clarity of long-term climate policymaking. The narrowly drawn bill will retain our legal commitment to 2045, alongside annual reporting on progress, whilst introducing a target approach based on five-yearly carbon budgets. With our legal commitment to reach net zero by 2045, steadfastly remaining and recommitted today and with Scotland's emissions already nearly cut in half, we are well positioned to continue leading on climate action here and ambitious and capable of rising to the emergency before us. This Government will not yield to climate culture wars. We will never shirk our duty to those impacted by climate change today and to future generations. Together, we know that we can tackle the crisis with the pace and urgency that is required. Indeed, with very minor legislative amendments that I am proposing today, we will pave the way for continued ambition and pragmatic delivery against this most important challenge. Thank you. Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which time we will move on to the next slide of business. I would ask those members who would wish to seek to ask a question to please press the question speak buttons. I call on Douglas Lambson. Presiding Officer, I would first like to thank the BBC for advanced sight of the Cabinet Secretary's statement. It's a shame that this Government is continuing to show such contempt for this Parliament. When we saw the news last night that the Scottish Government was scrapping their climate targets, we all knew what was going to be in the Cabinet Secretary's statement. A lot of smoking mirrors, rehashing announcements and blaming everyone else they can for their own failure. Let us be crystal clear that the key areas of emissions are devolved—transport, housing and agriculture. All devolved and this announcement is an absolute humiliation for the SNP. But even more humiliating for the Greens who have ditched environmentalism for nationalism. In December last year, the Cabinet Secretary told this Parliament that world leaders would approach in the Scottish Government for advice on tackling climate change. But we never did find out who was calling and I bet her phone is silent now. So can I ask the Cabinet Secretary for the timetable for bringing forward legislation when we will see the climate change plan and can the Cabinet Secretary confirm that the new annual report and on progress will have no legally committed targets? Can I just say that the tone of this whole statement is not proceeding like that? We've got business to get through. Important business. Presiding Officer, thank you. There is more than a hint of hypocrisy in Douglas Lumsden's contribution today. The truth of the matter is that the Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament voted for these climate targets and principally the 20, 30, 75 per cent target. But they have stood in the way of even modest measures that we have sought to bring forward in order to realise them. They have opposed low emission zones in city centres, a prime intervention to improve air quality. They worked relentlessly to cease the progress on the deposit return scheme, and they now oppose heating standards and our efforts to tackle some of the most problematic emissions in Scotland. Meanwhile, their colleagues in the UK Government are fighting to open coal mining in England. They are failing to deploy on and off shorewind and inexplicably refusing to progress CCUS in Scotland. So as I say, more than a hint of hypocrisy. As regards the very short question that was at the end of Douglas Lumsden's narration, on the timetable of the bill, I will work hard with the Parliament to have a timetable put in place, it will be expedited. When that legislation is brought forward, it will speak to both the climate change plan and the annual reporting of targets. I would just advise that Mr Lumsden did have one minute and 30 seconds to pose his raises issues. I call Sarah Boyack. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I note both the comments that you have made and the Presiding Officer about this statement. Thursday 18 April 2024 will go down as the day that Scotland officially went from being a world leader in climate targets to a world leader in scrapping targets. So ambitious targets were not backed up by ambitious action. The Committee on Climate Change identified 19 policy areas where the SNP Green Government has either no plan, an insufficient plan or needs to take action to meet the net zero by 2045 target. So can the cabinet secretary clarify whether any interim targets and legal reporting will be ditched in the bill that she mentioned? She made a series of announcements about upcoming work, but can we get the timescale and the publication dates for all these delayed strategies, the climate change plan, the green industrial strategy, the energy strategy and just transition plan, the draft set of plans for agriculture, construction and transport. We are still waiting publication dates. Can the cabinet secretary clarify what action the Scottish Government will now take to deliver affordable rail services, support local authorities so we have the bus services people can use, not hundreds more cut so that constituents can actually have low-carbon, affordable public transport choices they can make? When I first launched the climate statement in Parliament in the early days, I reflected on the worst flooding and living memory in southern African states. We are now seeing regular extreme flooding in Scotland. Will the cabinet secretary commit to annual reporting on climate change so we do not lose the momentum and the proper parliamentary scrutiny that we need to work together to tackle this climate crisis? As regards annual reporting, I would point Sarah Boyack to the section in my statement where I confirmed that that would be retained as part of the wider move to carbon budgeting. As I say, I will bring forward more detail on the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament. I would ask Sarah Boyack not to... I understand disappointment. I am disappointed myself. My team and I have worked exceptionally hard not to have to make the change that we are making today, but let's not overplay what is being done here. This is a minor legislative amendment restating our 2045 goal but recasting the trajectory in line with what our independent advisers and the Committee on Climate Change advise is achievable. Sarah Boyack and others every party across the chamber understood when we passed the previous climate legislation the CCC's view that the 75 per cent target is likely to be beyond what was achievable. In fact, it is my and the Government's efforts now to correct that with a narrow bill which will pave the way, we hope, for the continued delivery in action that we have sought to demonstrate in previous years. I call Ben Macpherson to be followed by Graham Simpson. In an answer to a freedom of information request published in autumn last year, it has been stated by the Scottish Government that Scotland's carbon dioxide emissions represent around only 0.1 per cent of global emissions according to recent statistics. Therefore, in playing our active part to tackle the climate emergency, we must have perspective and be honest about the fact that any Scottish actions to try to prevent climate change can only ever be a very small but worthwhile part of a much bigger global challenge. In that context, does the cabinet secretary agree with me that it is important to acknowledge that Scotland is already going further than many other comparable countries in our efforts to reduce emissions and innovate, and that today's statement confirms that we will purposefully continue to do so with ambition and credibility? Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that we must collectively appreciate the economic, social and health benefits of taking actions to reduce emissions, that they are at least as important as any positive environmental impacts that such measures towards net zero may have? On the first part of Ben Macpherson's question, which I do not disagree with at all, I would say that Scotland alone cannot solve the world's problems when it comes to climate change, but the world's problems will not be solved without countries like Scotland playing their fullest part, and that is exactly what this Government intends to do. In 2019, the Parliament agreed that there should be a period right across cross-party lines to a highly ambitious set of targets. As I've said, we were advised at the time that there was not a clear path as far as the CCC could see it to achieving them. Now, I don't think that that was necessarily a bad thing. I think that it has driven ambition and action in the period since, but we have also learned many lessons from them, including on harsh winters that affect annual targets, annual targets that don't necessarily reflect what actually occurs over a long period of time. I absolutely agree with Ben Macpherson that our journey to net zero, it must be delivered in a way that is fair, it must be just, it must be along a pathway that aligns with expert guidance and advice. That is why today I am announcing this package of measures that sits alongside the bold plans that we already had for this year, and that is why I am making this narrow amendment to the climate legislation as it stands so that we can continue to pursue that progress. I call Graham Simpson to be followed by Jackie Dunbar. Thank you very much. Presiding Officer, this is an admission of failure, and I am absolutely astonished that the two Green Ministers have not resigned in disgust, but there they are, sat there on the front bench. Now, the Cabinet Secretary described, she says, I can't even hear myself talk. Mr Simpson, please reduce your seat. Mr Swinney, please refrain from doing that. We need to make progress, have the questions, hear the responses. Mr Simpson, please resume. So it was Mr Swinney, a lot of hot air there from Mr Swinney. Mr Simpson, please just resume your question. The Cabinet Secretary talks about a minor legislative amendment, but targets were set in this act, the Climate Change Emissions Reduct and Targets Act 2019. The requirement to have a climate change plan, which is now overdue, was also in that act. Can the Cabinet Secretary tell us what will remain in this act in what she describes as a minor legislative amendment? It's the intention of the Government that the vast majority of what is in the act will be retained, subject to those changes that I have set out today, which coalesce principally around the 2030 target and annual targets. As I've said, I intend to seek to take the bill forward on an expedited basis. I'll work with the Parliament on that timetable and indeed on the content of the bill. I call Jackie Dunbar to be followed by Colin Smyth. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The plans and ambitions of the Government require sufficient resource to be realised. Our climate targets and how we go about realising them cannot be discussed or considered in isolation from the wider UK context. What will the Cabinet Secretary do to reiterate to the UK Government that it must reverse the swinge and cuts that is imposed on Scotland in order for us to fully realise our ambitions for climate and nature? There is absolutely no doubt that the limits of devolution as well as other matters including technological advance etc. are a hindrance on what we are seeking to do, which is to institute the economic and societal transformation that the climate emergency demands on us. As I said in my statement, the budgetary restrictions imposed by the UK Government and in particular that up to 9 per cent cut to our capital budget are devastating for our ambitions on climate change. MSPs across this chamber, I am calling on them to join with us and to call upon the UK Government to reverse Scotland's capital cut so that we can invest in the kinds of infrastructure of which countries across the world are. I would point to the Inflation Reduction Act in the US. Similar schemes that the EU are taking forward and I would highlight the absolute absence of those plans at UK level from the current incumbent Government and equally from the Labour Party seeking to enter number 10 having just ditched their green investment pledge of £28 billion. I call Colin Smith to be followed by John Swinney. Does the cabinet secretary understand that she can add yet more plans, yet more strategies to the 82 that we have had already, but it is the actions of this Government that has led to this humiliating not minor ditching of targets? Take Woodland creation, the climate change committee said it needs to double, but this month this Government is halving the budget. Does the cabinet secretary believe that action will increase or decrease Woodland creation? Will this be just yet another mis-target? Cabinet Secretary. As Colin Smith talks about plans and strategies and action, that is what delivery is made from. It does not come from what Colin Smith does and what his party does, which is turn up to this chamber and vote for targets and then fail to back even modest measures that the Government brings forward to try and institute them. This Government has in recent years delivered some extremely ambitious policies. He mentions forestry. 75 per cent of all new forests created in the UK in recent years have been in Scotland. We are investing a quarter of a billion pounds in peatland restoration. 65 million in nature restoration. 37 per cent of our waters in marine protected areas. My colleagues are taking forward a biodiversity strategy. It is very easy to be Colin Smith. It is much more difficult. Cabinet secretary, please resume. We need to have the courtesy in respect to listen to the cabinet secretary's response. Please so proceed, cabinet secretary. I was going to go on to say that it is much more difficult to be those who are responsible for delivery, but this Government is committed to. John Swinney, to be followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. Given the degree to which many of the practical changes that are required to achieve our climate targets are often contested or the subject of criticism and frequently resisted by some members of Parliament, what significance does the cabinet secretary attach to trying to overcome these obstacles by working with local community-driven initiatives, which is the one that she visited in my constituency yesterday, where people are coming together in Dunkelvin Burnham to encourage real commitment around climate action within their own community. Does that not offer us more hope than the hot air and empty rhetoric that we have heard from the Opposition today? Cabinet secretary. It absolutely does. I know my colleagues will be the same from the engagement that we have on the issue across the country. You can often feel that the magnitude of the climate crisis makes you feel that, as an individual, you can't contribute, you can't make a difference, but it's not the case. Examples like the climate cafe initiative, including where it was born in Dunkelvin Burnham that I visited yesterday, exemplify how communities and action that is driven from the ground up is happening all across Scotland and it is making a considerable difference in this all-of-scotland, all-of-government, all-of-business, all-of-society challenge. What the cabinet secretary describes as a minor legislative amendment is in fact a monstrous generational betrayal from the SNP and their green partners. It is a cynical attempt to dodge bad press by simply abolishing the climate change targets that they have repeatedly missed. For years, we have had to endure smug lectures from nationalist ministers about how Scotland was a world leader on climate targets, but it is never delivered on the hard graft of insulating homes, making transport cleaner or creating green jobs. They are incapable of getting even the basics right because their nationalism has always trumped their environmentalism. So can I ask the cabinet secretary given the botched recycling schemes, the rail fare hikes, the bus service cuts, is there anywhere else on the planet where Greens in government have torched climate targets for a seat at the table? Alex Cole-Hamilton's full outrage in the chamber today is utterly true to form. He deserves an Oscar for his contribution. A number of weeks ago he sat with me and colleagues at his house at our invitation. He listened to the Committee on Climate Change and gave us a very factual lecture and update on the state of play as regards to climate. Two key points were made. 75 per cent by 2030 was always regarded as pushing at the limits of what was possible and that annual targets and the measuring thereof do not necessarily reflect how long-term emissions actually happens. He knows this is that the climate crisis, the twin crises of nature loss, these are too important for people like Alex Cole-Hamilton to politicise them. Scotland remains a world leader when it comes to climate change. Our 2045 target is absolutely steadfast and we are already nearly halfway to net zero with a significant number of plans in place to continue that journey. I would advise members that we need more questions and answers. Maggie Chapman to be followed by Elena Whitham. Decades of inaction have brought us to this point. Today must be a pivotal moment in our fight against the climate emergency for a liveable future. We may have come halfway, but that's the easy part. Decarbonising our homes, transitioning to regenerative zero-carbon farming, addressing transport emissions, transforming our economy, these are the challenges ahead. While the Scottish Government is making progress we must go further and move faster. Today's package of measures to accelerate action will help to make this happen. Does the cabinet secretary agree that blocking climate action for opposition's sake or because of vested interests is not good enough and that Labour and the Tories must stop the hypocrisy and get behind this climate acceleration package? Cabinet secretary. I absolutely agree with Maggie Chapman as I said at the beginning of my statement. The race to net zero is one that we must all win and we frankly will not get there with some of the hypocrisy that's being demonstrated today. I've already said you will never hear me say as the net zero secretary that Scotland is yet doing enough. Frankly, I don't think any country in the world will be able to say that until we have reached net zero. That's why we need communities across Scotland, business and industry, the third sector are local authorities and MSPs across this chamber to unite and to put in the hard yards when it comes to supporting actions to deliver emissions reduction. So I absolutely agree it's time for the opposition to stop the hypocrisy, unite across the chamber, get behind today's policy package and don't stand in the way of the measures that we seek to bring forward for emissions reduction in Scotland. I call Elena Whitham to be followed by Maurice Golden. Deputy Presiding Officer, regrettably the cross-party consensus that did exist in 2019 both here and in Westminster has evaporated. We thought that the UK Government was going to act in lockstep with us on emissions but it failed to do so and it has even rolled back on key policies. Cabinet Secretary, does this not show the limits of devolution and given the existential threat we are facing, how can she support all of us collectively in this place to push for the changes we need to see right across all of these islands and indeed globally? Cabinet Secretary. Elena Whitham is absolutely right. I hope that we can reconvene that cross-party consensus that has existed in the past but has been eroded in recent times. She's also absolutely right. It does nobody any favours to underplay the scale of what's required to tackle climate change. I've talked about that transformation and went as a devolved Government trying to do that when you don't have powers over oil and gas licensing, over CCUS, over the long overdue grid upgrades that we require right across the country, over the ability to change vehicle excise duty and other interventions that encourage different behaviours in transport. I will seek to address this by that commitment I made in the statement for a Four Nations climate response. I'll be seeking co-operation across the UK and I'll be trying to encourage colleagues at UK Government level to join us in that. I call Maurice Golden to be followed by Bob Dorris. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Having abandoned the 2030 net zero target, the SNP Greens need to prove that this isn't the beginning of a general retreat on climate policy. No more warm words or blaming non-decision makers for decisions the Scottish Government have made. Sustainable consumption and behaviour change will be key to meeting our net zero targets. Yet neither receive a mention in the statement. What transformational action is being taken in these two important areas? Cabinet Secretary. I'm afraid I didn't actually catch the last part of Maurice Golden's statement. Have you been able to repeat it? Mr Golden, could you please repeat towards the end of the question you've put on the record? Sustainable consumption and behaviour change will be key to meeting our net zero targets. Yet neither receive a mention in the statement. What transformational action is being taken in these two important areas? Thank you and I apologise to Maurice Golden for not catching that. The statement today and the additional policies that were announced are not intended to be an exhaustive list. They set atop everything else that this Government is taking forward this year and in coming years. To answer Maurice Golden's question I would point him just to one example of the particular economy bill and the waste route map that my colleague Lorna Slater is currently taking through Parliament. I really urge Maurice Golden and his colleagues to think very carefully about the hypocrisy that they are demonstrating today. They know the actions or the inactions, frankly, that their colleagues in Westminster have taken. They must also know how frequently they have stood up in this chamber and opposed what the Government has sought to take forward. I challenge them today to put that to bed and to join us in action. To secure the step change and all our behaviours required to tackle climate change, including political behaviour in this place, quite frankly, we need to be clear about the impact of climate change, not just the impact overseas but also here at home. Can I therefore ask the cabinet secretary how the Scottish Government seeks to highlight the consequences of climate change on Scotland to our communities across Scotland, such as the recently reported concerns over food shortages and rising food prices in the UK as a consequence of severe weather events? Bob Doris's observations are absolutely right. In many ways in Scotland we are not on the front line of climate change and we are required to remind people in Scotland about our moral obligation to support communities throughout the world who are right now on the front line of climate change, but equally we have seen in recent months in Scotland the very real impacts of continued adverse weather patterns on our communities, not least the record number of named storms that Scotland suffered this winter with impacts on our transport infrastructure and indeed with lives lost. The combination of both of those things I think are very important as part of the message as to why we must continue to make action. That concludes the statement. I apologise to those additional members who sought to ask a question that I was not able to squeeze them in. That was as a result of the fact that some of the questions and answers were excessively long and I also need to protect the rest of the afternoon's business. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business on climate change position.