Climate Change (Scotland) Bill
This page contains historic information on the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change
Committee's scrutiny of the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill.
The Bill received Royal Assent in August 2009 and you may wish to refer to the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.
Introduction
The Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee is lead committee on the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill.
The Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Government on 4 December 2008. It aims to set a target to reduce Scotland's emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% by the year 2050.
The role of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee is to examine and consider the proposed legislation.
The Committee issued a call for views on the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill. The call for views is now closed.
The Committee published its
Stage 1 Report on the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill on 24 April 2009.
The Scottish Government published its response to the Committee's report on 5 May 2009.
Further information on the scrutiny of the Bill at Stage 2 and Stage 3 can be found on the Parliament's current Bill page.
The Committee received a letter from the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change regarding advice from the UK Committee on Climate Change on 23 June 2009.
Letter to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change from the UK Committee on Climate Change - 22 June 2009 (39.8 KB)
Letter to the Convener from the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change - 23 June 2009 (1.72MB)
Background
The Scottish Government held a consultation on proposals for a Scottish Climate Change Bill in advance of the Bill being introduced.
The Bill is divided into five parts.
- Part 1 creates a statutory framework for greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Scotland by setting a 50% reduction target for 2030 and an 80% reduction target for 2050. This Part of the Bill also requires that the Scottish Government sets annual targets, in secondary legislation, for Scottish emissions from 2010 to 2050.
- Part 2 contains provisions which will allow the Scottish Government to establish a Scottish Committee on Climate Change, or to designate an existing body, to exercise advisory functions.
- Part 3 places duties on the Scottish Government requiring that it reports regularly to the Scottish Parliament on Scotland’s emissions and on the progress being made towards the emissions reduction targets set in the Bill.
- Part 4 contains powers to allow the Scottish Government, by regulations, to impose duties on public bodies in relation to climate change, to issue guidance to those bodies relating to their climate change duties and to require that they report upon the discharge of those duties.
- Part 5 contains other climate change provisions, including provisions on reports on adaption to climate change, muirburn, the functions of Forestry Commission, the energy efficiency of buildings, the energy performance of non-domestic buildings, promotion of renewable sources of heat, and waste reduction and recycling.
The policy memorandum and explanatory notes accompanying the Bill provides an explanation from the Scottish Government on the policy intention behind the Bill and a description of the contents of each section of the Bill.
The Scottish Government has also produced:
Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee - Stage 1 scrutiny
Evidence on the inquiry
The Committee took evidence on the inquiry at the following meetings—
- Tuesday 20 January 2009 - Official Report of the Meeting
- Philip Wright, Deputy Director Climate Change
- Fiona Page, Head of Scottish Climate Change Bill Team
- Andrew Henderson, Policy Officer Scottish Climate Change Bill Team
- Cameron Maxwell, Climate Change Policy Team, Scottish Government
- Tuesday 27 January 2009 - Official Report of the Meeting
- Professor John Mitchell, Director of Climate Science, Met Office
- Professor Peter Smith, Professor of Soils and Global Change, University of Aberdeen
- Phil Matthews, Senior Policy Advisor, Sustainable Development Commission Scotland
- Dr Andy Kerr, Assistant Director of Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society, University of Edinburgh
- David Kennedy, Chief Executive, and Katherine White, Economic Adviser, Committee on Climate Change.
- Tuesday 3 February 2009 - Official Report of the Meeting
- Richard Dixon, Director, WWF Scotland
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Duncan McLaren, Chief Executive, Friends of the Earth Scotland
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Dave Watson, Scottish Organiser, UNISON
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Chris Hegarty, Advocacy Manager, SCIAF
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Gavin McLellan, Head of Christian Aid Scotland
- Judith Robertson, Head of Oxfam in Scotland
- Supplementary written evidence
Stop Climate Chaos (41.9KB)
- Tuesday 10 February 2009 - Official Report of the Meeting
- Chris Austin, Head of Public Affairs, Association of Train Operating Companies
- Marjory Rodger, Director of Government Relations in Scotland, Confederation of Passenger Transport UK
- Derek Halden, Director, DH Consultancy
- Gordon Dewar, Managing Director, Edinburgh Airport, BAA Scotland
- Robert Ashdown, Head of Technical Division, Chamber of Shipping
- Gordon Wilmsmeier, Senior Research Fellow, Transport Research Institute, Napier University
- Dr Alice Bows, Lecturer in Energy and Climate Change, Sustainable Consumption Institute & Tyndall Centre
- Paul Tetlaw, Chair, Transform Scotland
- Jeff Gazzard, Coordinator, GreenSkies Campaign
- John Lauder, National Director for Scotland, Sustrans
- Tuesday 24 February 2009 - Official Report of the Meeting
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Ken Gibb, Chair, Sustainable Scotland Network
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Councillor Alison Hay, Spokesperson for Regeneration and Sustainable Development, COSLA
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Anil Gupta, Team Leader for Environment and Regeneration, COSLA
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John Stocks, Manager, Scotland, Carbon Trust
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Mike Thornton, Director, Scotland, Energy Saving Trust
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Chas Booth, Senior Press and Parliamentary Officer, Association for the Conservation of Energy
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Stephen Boyd, Assistant Secretary, STUC
- Anne Douglas, National Secretary, Prospect
- Written evidence
COSLA and Sustainable Scotland Network (55.5KB)
STUC (54.7KB)
- Supplementary written evidence
Prospect [available from the Clerk on request]
- Tuesday 3 March 2009 - Official Report of the Meeting
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Matthew Farrow, Head of Environment Group, CBI
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Brendan Dick, and Grant Hodges, Climate Change Business Delivery Group
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Jason Ormiston, Chief Executive, Scottish Renewables
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Colin Galbraith, Director, Policy and Advice, and Clive Mitchell, Strategy and Communications Manager, Scottish Natural Heritage
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Dr Chris Spray, Director of Environmental Science, and David Gorman, Head of Environmental Strategy, SEPA
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Geoff Aitkenhead, Asset Management Director, and Mark Williams, Business Strategy and Climate Change Manager, Scottish Water
Additional Information Received by the Committee
The following additional information has been received by the Committee but not included as evidence
Work by other Committees - Stage 1 scrutiny
The Rural Affairs and Environment Committee is a secondary committee on the Bill and
will focus on three areas – the role of the Forestry Commission (section 47), Waste Reduction and recycling (sections 52 to 61) and Muirburn (section 46).
Further information on the scrutiny of the Bill at Stage 2 and Stage 3 can be found on the Parliament's current Bill page.
The Bill received Royal Assent in August 2009 and you may wish to refer to the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.
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