 The next item of business is a statement by Mary McCallan on Scottish Greenhouse Gas emissions 2021. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Mary McCallan, cabinet secretary, up to 10 minutes please. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Last month, the UN's World Meteorological Organization issued a stark warning, projecting for the first time ever that global temperatures are likely to temporarily breach 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming during the next five years. The Paris agreement calls on every nation to pursue all efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Those projections indicate that we likely have, for the first time in human history, a very unwelcome glimpse of what crossing that longer-term threshold would be like. For Scotland and, indeed across the world, this is uncharted territory. It is therefore more important than ever that Scotland is stepping up and playing our part in realising the benefits of a net zero climate resilient future. It is right that this Parliament therefore passed some of the world's most ambitious climate legislation by a significant cross-party majority and I stress cross-party. It is true that those targets are driving transformational change, with Scottish emissions already cut in half. We can be, under no illusion, the hardest part of this journey is ahead of us. We need to have our emissions again by 2030 to meet this Parliament's rightly very stretching target. It is against this backdrop that I want to update Parliament on progress towards Scotland's statutory climate targets. Officials statistics published this morning show that Scotland has narrowly missed its annual target for 2021, achieving a 49.9 per cent emissions reduction against a target of 51.1 per cent from the 1990 baseline. To miss our target so narrowly by just 1.2 per cent is, of course, disappointing, but it also demonstrates that we are not far behind where those world-leading targets dictate we need to be. While the 2021 results show a rebound from 2020, this was not entirely unexpected given how much the 2020 position was affected by pandemic lockdowns. Scotland is not unique in experiencing this. UK emissions rebounded by 4.4 per cent over the period compared to 2.4 in Scotland. We knew to inspect an increase in transport emissions as a result of Covid restrictions easing, and we also expected that one of the coldest winters in 10 years would see an increase in domestic heating emissions. Any target missed is a concern, and it is not something that I will ever shy away from. However, we should take heart from data that shows continued underlying progress in many sectors, such as energy, supply and industry. We must also remember that those figures do not yet reflect the 100 new and boosted policies that were included in the Government's climate change plan update that was published in March 2021. On that note, we are delivering progress right across our economy. Under this Government, Scotland is becoming a renewables powerhouse. We have launched the world's largest floating offshore wind leasing round through Scotland, which will initially deliver over £750 million in revenue. Developers have also committed to investing an average of £1.4 billion in Scotland per project, which equates to around £28 billion across the 20 projects. We are investing £100 million in renewable hydrogen over this Parliament and have awarded an additional £15 million through our energy transition fund to support the development of a hydrogen hub in Aberdeen. Since launching the young persons free bus pass in January last year, we have seen a new card holder every minute. Alongside similar schemes for older and disabled people, we are supporting more than a third of the population. With over three million journeys every week, we are helping people all across Scotland to cut costs and to make sustainable travel more attractive. On rail services, we continue to develop the decarbonisation programme, building on the pre-pandemic position, where more than 75 per cent of all rail passenger journeys in Scotland were electric. We are encouraging people to change from petrol or diesel cars with the most comprehensive public charging network in the UK outside of London. That is nearly 4,000 public charge points. In our natural environment, over 75 per cent of all the trees planted across the UK in recent years have happened in Scotland. Those policies, among many others, demonstrate the breadth and depth of this Government's ambition and our delivery. The statistics published today demonstrate that there is clearly a great deal more to do. Really that is the nature of the global climate emergency, which demands a quite unique scale and pace of change. It is in this context that I am grateful for the Committee on Climate Change for their December 2022 report. I have responded today and have accepted or partially accepted 98 of their 99 recommendations, the remaining recommendation being entirely reserved and not in our gift. While the Government commits and recommits itself to deep and urgent emissions reduction, it is also essential that we do so in a way that is fair, with the voices of those most impacted driving our actions. I am committed to ensuring that we listen and act on what we hear from our communities, workers and their trade union representatives and our businesses. That is why today I have published a suite of discussion papers to inform our just transition plans for the built environment and construction, for land use in agriculture and for transport. Those discussion papers set out a vision for a fair transition with broad questions, which we are aiming to identify the key priorities as policies develop. In developing those papers, I want to put on record my gratitude to the Just Transition Commission for their advice so far, and I look forward to meeting the stakeholders across the summer. Let me be clear that this Government is absolutely committed to a fair transition. We are taking workers with us on our journey to net zero. We will never do to our oil and gas workers what Thatcher did to mining and steel communities, and we will always strive to understand the needs of those impacted by change. As this year's draft energy strategy and Just Transition plan set out, we have a clear vision on how we can direct Scotland's enviable skills, talent and natural resources to deliver an energy system that provides affordable, resilient and clean energy supplies. Of course, a Just Transition is for all of Scotland, not just the north-east. When I visited Grangemouth recently, I saw the work that is contributing to continued progress in that mission critical project of reducing industrial emissions. Alongside major investment in the site, we are supporting change at Grangemouth through the Grangemouth Future Industry Board and a site-specific and with a site-specific Just Transition plan. Before covering the Government's next step, a word of warning. We know that the race to net zero is one that we must all win, yet it is obvious that we are constrained by the current limits of devolution. I wish dearly that this Government had all the powers of a normal independent nation, not least to control our own vast energy resources, not having that naturally hinders our ability to institute the transformational change across our economy and society that this emergency demands. The UK Government must urgently act on reserved matters, including CCUS, hydrogen, electricity grid infrastructure and decarbonisation of the gas network. Similarly, I cannot stress enough how against the world-leading targets that the Parliament has set, we can ill afford a UK Government willing to trash devolution and sabotage policies such as DRS, which have been years in the making, have been backed by this Parliament and were an important part of our emissions reduction plan. It is clear that Scotland's contribution to global climate action will be significantly enhanced when we become an independent nation. As I look forward to that day, I also want to look forward on our immediate climate plans, because today is a moment to take stock. This is not just about the next year, it is about well-informed ambitious decision-making that will shape a generation and generations to come. We may be halfway to net zero, but, as I have said, the hardest part is ahead. We know, for example, that in transport we must find ways to put people in not cars first. That is why we are working with COSLA to finalise our 20 per cent reduction in car kilometre route back and have commissioned research on equitable options for demand management, which we will publish in the coming months. Of course, the most direct levers on the cost of buying or running a petrol or diesel car, namely fuel duty and vehicle excise duty, are currently reserved. Recent rises in motoring costs underline the unfairness of the current regressive tax regime. We will continue to press the UK Government for a fair and progressive system that better incentivise the transition to net zero emissions. Along with transport, heating Scotland's homes and buildings is another of the biggest contributors to our carbon emissions. That is why we will consult this year on a proposed heat and buildings bill inviting views on options for regulating energy efficiency and zero emissions heat across Scotland's homes and buildings. Those are just some of the matters that we will address as we prepare to set out the draft of our next climate change plan at the end of the year. In the meantime, let us all, as a Government and as a Parliament, lean ever further into a bold and ambitious approach because, Presiding Officer, nothing less shall suffice. Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement, and I intend to allow around 20 minutes for that, after which we will move on to the next item of business. I would ask those members who would wish to ask a question to please press the request to speak buttons. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is a sobering report into emissions for the Scottish Government no matter how much they try to distract attention away from their many failures. At the top level, they have missed their reduction target for Scottish source emissions from seven greenhouse gases, 2.4 per cent higher than 2020, but drilling into that makes for even worse reading. Residential emissions up over 7 per cent, domestic transport emissions up over 10 per cent, agricultural emissions up almost 2 per cent. What analysis has been done as to how other countries are meeting their targets and, thus, where the Scottish Government is failing? Is the reason that the Scottish Government has not reported on Scotland's per capita emissions since 2019 simply because the rest of the UK has significantly lower per capita emissions? Liam Kerr wants to discuss comparators between countries. I am quite happy to do so. He is quite perfectly correct to point out that there has been a rebound in transport activity and, therefore, emissions between 2020 and 2021. That has created a 2.4 per cent emissions increase, but if we want to compare that, that compares with a 4.4 per cent rebound across the UK. If I can tell him that I am less concerned about how Scotland compares with our UK and with other nations throughout the world, what I am interested in is making sure that the Scottish Government and this Parliament are setting the right suite of policies to deliver a just transition to net zero against the targets that we have set here. To be honest, it is extraordinary to be being lectured by Liam Kerr on climate change. He would be forgiven, Presiding Officer, for forgetting that the Tories voted for Scotland's 2045 net zero target, because they have systematically stood in the way of virtually every game-changing policy that this Government has tried to pursue in advancing those targets, whether it is opposing low emission zones, not just good for emissions reduction but good for public health, whether it is U turning on DRS, whether it is opposing regulation of heat in buildings. That is why their colleagues down south are doing everything that they can to continue opening coal mining in the rest of the UK. The people of Scotland will not forgive the Tories for their apparent denial of climate change and nor, more importantly, will future generations. We urgently need our Governments to work together nationally and locally, so the Scottish Government needs to stop using net zero as a constitutional battle and use their powers that they have to the max to tackle our climate emergency. Cabinet Secretary, we are retrofitting our homes, tackling fuel poverty, delivering the community and co-operative heat and power projects that we need right across the country, affordable buses and trains, and fixing the broken EV chargers. Yesterday, Cabinet Secretary, we launched our clean energy labour's mission, and the SNP criticised that it is too little, too late. They, not us, are the Government, and our plans go way beyond today's statement. So will the Cabinet Secretary admit that she does not have the plans currently in place to meet our Parliament's net zero targets? Isn't she embarrassed that 35 per cent of our households live in fuel poverty? Will she commit to replacing the thousands of bus services our communities have lost so that we can actually deliver the just transition all of our constituents urgently need? I have been quite clear that I am disappointed to have so narrowly missed the 2021 emissions target. 1.2 per cent is 1.2 per cent too much, and I recommit this Government to doing everything that we can to continue to narrow the gap between our reality and our targets. Not least, as I set out in my statement, will we do that by consulting this year on a heat and buildings consultation to regulate efficiency and heating systems, and I look forward to her support on that. She talked about working jointly. We are currently working with COSLA to finalise our route map to decarbonise 20 per cent or to reduce the car kilometres driven by 20 per cent. But notwithstanding that I agree with the fact that we have to have a rapid and fair transition away from fossil fuels and that the unlimited extraction of fossil fuels is incompatible with climate change, forgive me for not having any faith in what Keir Starmer set out yesterday. First, are we supposed to believe that the net zero pledges will not just become the next thing that he flip-flops on? Having abandoned a £28 billion green prosperity funding, that one has been shredded. Just regarding GB energy, are we supposed to be grateful that a UK Government will potentially open part of its department to oversee our renewable resources, when successive UK Governments of every kind have squandered hundreds of billions of pounds from the North Sea, with very little of that reinvested into Scotland? We need to have succinct questions and answers. Forgive me, I do not have faith in what Keir Starmer set out. Glasgow's low emissions zone is a great step forward and a real boost to the health of glass regions that have struggled with poor air quality. Can the cabinet secretary say if there will be any more such initiatives? Does she share my disappointment that some politicians say that they support the overall targets, but when it comes to practical steps they oppose them? John Mason is absolutely right. The low emissions zones in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee are an exemplar of very close working between Scottish Government and our local authorities. I am very proud of the very close joint working that we did to have them set up. They are an example of progress being made on emissions reduction for our climate and for our environment. They are an example of a strong intervention in support of public health, where we know that young people and older people in particular are susceptible to damage from emissions. I am very proud that they are up and running, not least because of the way that they were brought in, but also because of what they deliver for the people of Scotland. I would say that the opposition that we have had on low emissions zones from the Tories, and perhaps more surprisingly from Labour, appears like political posturing in the face of something really positive. I call Edward Mountain to be followed by Alice Rallan. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Reducing energy used to heat houses is critical if we are to reduce our emissions, as the Cabinet Secretary has just suggested. We will no doubt promote the heat in buildings bill that is going to be bought forward later. The EPC system is not fit for purpose and not supported by industry. In order to help Scotland achieve its submission targets, will the cabinet secretary commit to introducing a new system to replace the discredited EPC system? Thank you, Edward Mountain, for the question, which is very relevant to a lot of the work that we need to do this year. 150,000 households in Scotland are already benefiting from investment that the Scottish Government has put forward to support energy efficiency and zero emissions heating systems, but that needs to be scaled up very rapidly indeed. There are two things that we have done. The new build heat standard, which has just been introduced—I think that that is an excellent initiative. People say constituency to me, Mary, why on earth are we rebuilding new houses with fossil fuel heating systems, so that will see to that. On the direct point that Edward Mountain raises about EPC, I would expect that all of that can be looked at as we consult on a heat in buildings bill, looking at efficiency and looking at heating systems. I encourage him and any others with views about the system to feed into that consultation. Given that Westminster is evidently intent on undermining the right of this Parliament to pass legislation in devolved areas, how can we rely on our current devolved powers to pass legislation that impacts on the climate crisis? Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that the only way to resolve the situation is not for UK Government departments to have Scottish addresses, but for this Parliament to have the normal powers of a normal Parliament? Presiding Officer, I quite agree that there are a litany, sadly, of actions that are critical to responding with the pace and the scale that the climate emergency demands of us, that do not sit in Scotland, do not sit with this Parliament. They rest, unfortunately, in London with Governments that we do not elect. Whether that is carbon capture utilisation and storage is absolutely critical to decarbonising industry. It is inexplicable that the UK Government did not support the ACORN project in its track 1, and we still await confirmation of the timing for track 2, whether it is the gas network, whether it is transmission charging. I dearly wish that we had all of those powers in this Parliament, not least over Scotland's own resources. As I said in my statement, I will very much look forward to the day when Scotland is an independent nation and we have those powers. Once again, the largest source of Scottish greenhouse gas emissions is domestic transport, so it is welcome that, last summer, the Scottish Government finally released new powers in the 2019 Transport Act, which enabled new publicly-owned bus companies to be established for the first time since Tory bus deregulation in 1986, because transport emissions will not change unless we change who owns our public transport. However, as highlighted by friends of the earth, Scotland's new powers without funding are essentially worthless. In Greater Manchester, it is estimated that the total cost of franchising is £135 million. The Scottish Government's community bus fund is just £1 million, so will the cabinet secretary be honest about her intentions? Does she want to see our buses brought back into public ownership, and if so, what additional funding will she add to the community bus fund? I am afraid that I did not catch all of the question, although I was trying to listen quite intently, but I quite agree that it was a very positive step when legislation saw the devolution of those powers to local authorities. I quite understand that, when powers as important as that are transferred, we need to continue to work with one another as central government and local government on the implementation of that. Certainly, my door is always open to local authorities to COSLA, if they want to raise with me about the implementation of that. She is absolutely right that transport is one of the highest-emitting sectors. Encouraging people to use public transport and, preferably, public transport that is decarbonised is one of the most important things. That is why I am very proud that more than 2.3 million people in Scotland can use our bus network for free and that we have invested to allow companies to purchase 548 new net zero emissions buses. I call Stuart McMillan to be followed by Liam McArthur. The cabinet secretary outlined what opportunities there are for the opposition parties to propose alternative ideas to help them to form the next climate change plan, which she agreed with me that, when it comes to doing more to tackle the climate emergency and from DRS to the workplace, parking, levy or low emissions zones, it is simply not good enough for the opposition parties to play politics and oppose for the opposition's sake. I absolutely agree just on the latter point. The climate emergency, the twin-nector emergency and the threat that that poses not just to us here in Scotland but across the world and in particular to communities in the global south who are currently on the front line of its worst aspects, that ought to focus the minds of members of this chamber to move away, I hope, from political positioning and into a position where we can agree across party boundaries that progress does need to be made. On that note, I mentioned that we are developing our next climate change plan. I have set up a climate change plan advisory group on which members of every party was invited and a number of them attend, and I would ask them to bring their ideas to that forum. Nobody has a monopoly on the ideas for this great challenge that we face, and I welcome ideas from every side of the chamber. I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of her statement but expressed disappointment at the use again of constitutional grievance to deflect blame for the failure of the Government to meet its targets. Of course, that has been a repeated failure with the Committee of Climate Change criticising the lack of detailed plans for getting us back on track, and that includes the revised plan in 2021. In the areas of transport and domestic heating, we are going backwards. Can the cabinet secretary outline for the benefit of Stuart McMillan and the rest of the chamber what plans the Government has to use the powers at its own disposal to take forward the scale of national insulation programme needed to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions and cut bills? I have already said a number of times in my statement and in response to a number of other members that we have made two significant steps forward as regards heating buildings, because I recognise their contribution to emissions. First, the new bill's heating standard, and secondly, the very wide-ranging and ambitious heat and buildings bill consultation that we will launch very shortly. It will speak to both energy efficiency and to regulation of heating systems. On the point of constitutional grievance, I take my role and my colleagues in Government take our role to deliver that for Scotland and as a contribution to the world very, very seriously. That is not constitutional positioning. How does Liam McArthur expect us to deliver carbon capture utilisation and storage, which is so critical to the decarbonisation of industry when the powers to do so do not sit in this Parliament and when the UK Government down the road are sitting on their hands? The £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Murray is vital to ensuring our energy transition does not replicate what Thatcher did to our mining and steel communities. Can the cabinet secretary provide any information as to whether the UK Government have agreed to work cooperatively and match the fund? Our Just Transition Fund and through it, we have so far allocated £75 million in funding in support of projects and communities across the North East and Murray to create new jobs, to support innovation and to secure the highly skilled workforce that we would all accept is critical to a Just Transition. That work is happening right now. The Just Transition in Scotland is not just words with this Government, it is action that we are delivering it right now. Sadly, despite repeated calls for UK Government to match our £500 million Just Transition Fund, I have yet to have a positive response on that front. One of the Scottish Government's key environmental targets is to reduce food waste by one third by 2025. To stay on track, we should be reducing food waste by an average of 33,000 tonnes per year. Can the cabinet secretary tell the chamber what the average yearly reduction has been since the target was set in 2016? I do not have that figure in front of me. I think that the member probably expected that that would be the case, but I would be more than happy to furnish him with that after my statement. I have to point again to the extreme irony of the Tories lecturing me on recycling when their own party has just not only in the Scottish Parliament refused to respond. Members, we need to hear the response from the cabinet secretary. Not only are members of the Scottish Parliament standing in the way of the development of the DRS, but their colleagues in Westminster are actually undermining the devolution settlement in a quite extraordinary way. Members, we will not make any progress if we are all speaking at the same time as the cabinet secretary. The hypocrisy no is no bounds. The cabinet secretary is right to highlight the record investment in active travel, the free buses for over 2 million people and with the removal of peak time railfares coming in the autumn, the dial is certainly starting to shift towards a greener and fairer transport future. What more action does the Government need to take to reduce transport demand? What is the role of the UK Government in securing that reduction in transport demand? What is the role for other parties in this chamber who are very quick to sign up to targets and then very weak when it comes to taking the necessary action that is needed to tackle the growth in transport demand? Today's emissions statistics show that car emissions continue to be the largest share of transport emissions, and that is why, as I set out, we are working with COSLA to finalise that 20 per cent reduction in car kilometres route map. Simultaneously, we have commissioned research exploring equitable options for demand management in order to discourage car use. The member asked about UK Government actions. The UK Government has acknowledged in its own net zero review that revenues from existing motoring taxes will decline sharply this decade as we transition away from fossil fuels and the taxes based on them. However, the UK Government has so far consistently not set out how it will address that. Reforms to transport taxes will be critical to meeting net zero targets, and I would not just encourage, but for the sake of emissions reduction, for the sake of Scotland's moral obligation and fulfilling our obligations to climate change, I would ask them to very quickly get on with that. Tree planting forms are part of the reduction of greenhouse emissions and carbon capture in Scotland. While Scotland outperforms the rest of the UK in the creation of New Woodland, I understand that industry is facing significant challenges in securing contractors to carry out replanting. Can I ask the Scottish Government what steps they are taking to rectify those issues? I am a significant proponent of forestation. Trees are not only good for biodiversity, but of course they absorb emissions from our atmosphere sequestering at way and storing it. Evelyn Tweed is quite right to point out both that 75 per cent of planting in the UK is happening in Scotland, but equally as we ramp up the contribution of the forestry industry that has been hampered of late in matters including employment. My colleague, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, has been pressing UK counterparts on the matter for some time, and I am sure that she will be happy to update the member on her progress in that regard. That concludes the statement. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business to allow front bench teams to change positions should they wish. Thank you.