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5. WORK OVER THE NEXT YEAR
5.1 Introduction
The year 2008/9 will be a critical year for defining the Government's approach to tackling climate change. Two important pieces of legislation will be introduced into the Scottish Parliament - on reducing emissions (the proposed Scottish Climate Change Bill) and on adapting to the impact of an increase in flood risk (the proposed Flooding Bill). In addition, there is a substantial amount of activity taking place to assess how we will meet the challenging targets, to develop new ways of reducing the carbon impact of what the Government and wider public sector does, and to encourage others to change their behaviour. We are also working to ensure Scotland is well placed to adapt well to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Key areas of work for 2008-09 are outlined below.
5.2 Developing our approach to delivering emission reductions
It is clear that setting targets to reduce emissions is not an end in itself; it is the delivery of these targets that matters most. The Scottish Climate Change Bill will provide the long term legal framework outlining the Government's commitments and future direction of policy. This will offer business and investors the certainty needed to plan for a low-carbon economy. The real challenge is in delivering the ambitious 80% target, and doing so whilst continuing to grow the Scottish economy and protect our natural environment. During the course of the draft Bill's passage through the Scottish Parliament, it is our intention to publish our thinking on how the 2050 target can be achieved. We are also considering whether additional measures are needed to deliver the short term target in the Government Economic Strategy to reduce emissions by 2011.
We have made a start with the commissioning of an initial assessment of policies with the potential to reduce emissions, due for publication in May/June 2008. This is a scoping exercise largely based on a review of existing literature and interviews with experts to deliver an initial assessment of the impacts of policy options in terms of their cost, reduction potential, feasibility and public acceptability.
We plan to refine the initial findings of this study at sector level to allow us to build up a picture of how and when emission reductions might be realised over the next 40 years. We will be involving experts in this process of refinement and further analysis over the summer and autumn. This exercise will also benefit from the work of the UK Committee on Climate Change, in particular its development of Marginal Abatement Cost Curves.
It will be important to identify how these policy options to meet the 80% target will impact on the Scottish economy. At present, no Scotland-specific estimates are available and accordingly a contract has been let with the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde to model the impact of climate change mitigation policies on the Scottish economy. We anticipate having the results of this work by the autumn. We will also be considering the links between delivering the 80% target and wider environmental impacts, taking account of the findings from the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Scottish Climate Change Bill.
We are also taking forward work to assess the value of our short-term commitments for tackling climate change over the remaining period of the current Spending Review (2008-11) as part of the Government's commitment to reducing emissions in the period to 2011.
5.3 Reducing the carbon impact of Government spending
A commitment was made in the Spending Review Budget report to introduce a new system of carbon accounting across the whole Scottish Government spend. The intention is that this will be central to future budgetary processes, and will provide a mechanism by which we can reduce the carbon impact of Government spend over time, in line with our target to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. We intend to design a methodology around the current Spending Review, which will provide a baseline and valuable lessons for application during the next Review. This initiative puts Scotland at the forefront of such developments worldwide. We will be hosting an international workshop during the autumn to learn from the best of relevant experiences around the world.
In parallel with this high-level assessment, we will require assessments of the carbon impact of individual Government policies and projects. This will create incentives to seek out low carbon options and to comply with the highest environmental standards of design and performance. A draft methodology is available and will be piloted during 2008-09. It is expected that much can be learned from experience in applying carbon accounting in the private sector, as well as examples of its application within other governments, and this will be a feature of the pilot phase.
The main benefit of such a system is to encourage and ensure that decisions taken across all of Government give full and proper consideration to the implications for climate change and our long and short term targets to reduce emissions.
5.4 Changing behaviour
Climate change touches on every aspect of our lives. It cannot be tackled through any one action but instead it lies at the heart of many of our daily decisions and lifestyle choices. While many people are concerned about climate change there is still a gap between this concern and any action. We are taking steps to address this.
The new Climate Challenge Fund is being designed to help communities take action in support of Scotland's climate change ambitions. £18.8 million will be available over the next 3 years to support communities across the country, allowing them to develop and deliver actions that will significantly reduce carbon emissions. Working together in this way we can deliver much more - the cumulative impact of community action can make a real difference - not only to Scotland's emissions reduction target - but by acting as exemplars these communities can help drive the long term change of attitude and behaviour that is needed.
Establishing effective policies to achieve climate-friendly behaviour is clearly essential but so too is the use of effective communications to raise awareness, empowering and inspiring people to take action. To inform this work new Scottish research has been commissioned from IPSOS Mori - Scottish Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours Survey 2008 ( SEABS '08). This will produce headline results in October 2008 with targeted social survey data on environmental attitudes and behaviours, representative of the current views of people in Scotland.
The Scottish Government is, with Defra and the other devolved administrations, establishing a 'virtual' research centre on environmental behaviour change to inform our understanding of the motivations and barriers to pro-environmental behaviours.
Our Greener Scotland Communications campaign has a clear focus on encouraging sustainable behaviours and this will continue to be developed over the coming year. Engagement will be increasingly through work with partners and key stakeholders, including NGOs, and tailored campaigns to demonstrate practical climate change action.
Schools Directorate is working in partnership with Learning and Teaching Scotland and other key stakeholders to ensure that the cross cutting themes of international education, education for citizenship and for sustainable development are within the curriculum.
5.5 Adapting to the impacts of climate change
The Scottish Climate Change Bill will set a target to reduce Scotland's emissions by 80% by 2050. However, even if similarly ambitious targets were to be replicated across the globe, some degree of change remains unavoidable as the impacts of climate change over the next 30 to 40 years have been determined by past and present emissions. We cannot prevent the effects of climate change that are already in the system, but we can adapt.
The Scottish Government is developing Scotland's first Climate Change Adaptation Strategy to provide impetus and awareness of the need to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change, identify priority adaptation action required in Scotland and clarify roles and responsibilities in achieving this action. The strategy will be consulted on during summer 2008 with a view to releasing the strategy in early 2009.
The Scottish Government is continuing to work in partnership with the Scottish Climate Change Impacts Partnership to support stakeholders in developing their adaptation response, as well as representing Scottish interest in the UK Climate Impacts Programme ( UKCIP). The latest future climate scenarios to be produced by UKCIP, to be released in late 2008, will ensure that Scotland's Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is informed by the most recent and sophisticated scenarios available.
5.6 Climate change and the wider public sector
It is recognised that the support of all of Scotland's public sector and partners will be crucial in helping the Scottish Government meet its ambitious climate change objectives. The Scottish Government is clear that the public sector should take the lead, working to develop the market, demonstrating feasibility to the private sector and helping emerging markets to mature. There has already been significant progress with Scottish local authorities through their unanimous support for Scotland's Climate Change Declaration. The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with its delivery partners to further develop their climate change response.
5.7 Summary
There is a substantial amount of activity underway to take forward this Government's ambitions in relation to climate change. We hope that other countries and other parts of society will follow our lead. Business has already started to take action (through initiatives being taken by the Business Delivery Group, Scottish Business in the Community events and work with the Carbon Trust) and there is commitment from local authorities and other public sector bodies to make real change. The NGO sector is strong and active in Scotland and plays an important role in highlighting the need for action. We hope that communities and individuals will be encouraged to do more through the Climate Challenge Fund and through the support available from bodies such as the Energy Saving Trust.
The next few years are critical for global climate change. Scotland can, and must, play its part in seizing opportunities to reduce emissions. This report has outlined our progress and plans to date. We look forward to working in partnership with all sectors to deliver the necessary changes over the coming years.
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