Order!

Our last item of business today is a Stage 3 Debate on SB244, in the name of the 21st Scottish Government. The question is whether this Parliament agrees to the Climate Change (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill.

Climate Change (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill

An Act of the Scottish Parliament to amend the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2020, and for connected purposes.

1 Carbon neutrality target date

In subsection (1) of section 2 of the principal Act, the date "1st April 2050" is omitted, and replaced with the date "1st April 2038".

2 Climate Change Research Fund

In section 5 of the principal Act—

(1) After subsection (4), insert—

"(5) The Research Fund Board shall publish biannual reports on its activities."

(2) In subsection (4), the amount "£50 million" is omitted, and replaced with the amount "£75 million".

3 Interpretation

In this Act, the "principal Act" refers to the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2020.

4 Commencement

(1) This Act comes into force immediately after Royal Assent.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to subsection (2) of section 2, which will come into force upon the Royal Assent of a Budget Act.

5 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Climate Change (Amendment) (Scotland) Act.

This Bill was written by the Most Hon. Lady /u/model-avtron, Marchioness Hebrides LT CT PC MSP MLA MS, Tòiseach na h-Alba, on behalf of the 21st Scottish Government.

Opening Speech

Oifigear-riaghlaidh,

This Act may be short, but it is of paramount importance.

Climate change is an extremely serious issue, and the largest threat to our way of life, and humanity as a whole.

The effects of climate change can be felt across the entire world, but also of course here too.

We saw horrifying effects from Storm Babet last month here, with multiple Scots dead. These incidents are tragic, and whilst storms are of course an inevitability, climate change is a compounding factor in making these freak weather events more frequent and deadly.

My Government’s plan is to accelerate our path towards Net Zero carbon emissions by twelve whole years. We believe this to be equally achievable and optimistic. We need to ensure that future generations have an earth to live on, and I see no reason why we must wait until 2050.

We also add an extra £25,000,000 to the statutory minimum of the funding level of the Climate Change Research Fund, to ensure that future Scottish Governments can’t just ignore the climate crisis, but must invest in new and innovative ways to reduce Scotland’s climate emissions.

I commend this bill, and move that this Pàrlamaid agrees to the general principles of this bill.

Debate under this bill will end with the close of business at 10pm GMT on the 31st of January 2023.