Environment

"Climate change is one of the single biggest long-term threats to the prosperity and wellbeing of our people. We know now, more than ever, that if our economy is to stand up to the challenges to come, it must be sustainable and responsive to our natural environment. As Scottish Labour works to rebuild Scotland’s economy, we realise there is an unprecedented opportunity to ensure that the starting principles of our economic future are cleaner and greener than the foundations of the past.

"The drive to build prosperity should not jeopardise Scotland’s natural resource base for future generations. But we must also recognise that our natural resources can in fact fuel the prosperity of future generations.

"That is why Scottish Labour will deliver a landmark Green New Deal, which will not only create new jobs and generate revenue in our communities, but will see renewable energy technology become a reality in homes across Scotland.

"We also want to be sure that those on lower incomes are not left behind as environmental improvements are brought on track. Scottish Labour believes that everyone has the right to share in the green revolution that will sweep Scotland."

- Iain Gray, Scottish Labour Leader
 
Our promises to Scotland

• Prioritise the creation of green jobs, aiming for up to 60,000 by 2015
• Maintain funding levels for the Climate Challenge Fund
• Create a new Commission for Rural Scotland to report on protecting rural communities
• Ensure that Scotland’s forests remain in public ownership
• Create 300 new jobs, 750 traineeships, and generate new revenue for local communities through Scottish Labour’s Green New Deal

 
A green economy
Scottish Labour’s priority is to rebuild our economy, but to do so in a way that ensures it becomes fairer and cleaner.  We are determined to ensure Scotland comes out of the recession stronger, with our economy making the historic switch from high to low carbon and our people trained in the industries of the future. We know that the next industrial revolution will be in the green low and zero carbon industries. We will therefore prioritise the creation of green jobs in renewable technologies – aiming for up to 60,000 by 2015 – and will speed up the granting of planning consent and build export opportunities to achieve this.

Scottish Labour will introduce a Green New Deal for Scotland. We will fit at least 10,000 homes with community and household renewables, such as solar panels and community heat and power schemes. This will provide a new revenue stream for housing associations, co-operatives and local authorities through the feed-in tariff. Scottish Labour’s Green New Deal will create 300 new manufacturing and installation jobs, as well as around 750 training places.

We will continue to develop the Central Scotland Green Network, with a focus on opportunities to promote environmental volunteering and training for young people. We will also work to attract £1.5 billion of investment from the Green Investment Bank and campaign to ensure that it is headquartered in Scotland.

Scotland’s transport choices need to be greener. Scottish Labour’s transport policies will therefore encourage people to switch from private cars to public transport, support the electrification of cars – starting with the phasing in of hybrid or electric cars in the government’s vehicle fleet – and encourage walking and cycling, with an increased proportion of the transport budget channelled towards active travel.

Tackling climate change
We believe that the challenge of climate change should be used as an opportunity to kick-start new ways of thinking – from taking collective, wide-ranging action to reduce our carbon emissions, to finding more efficient ways of delivering public services. Scottish Labour is committed to achieving the 42 per cent carbon emissions reduction target by 2020 and the 80 per cent target by 2050, as laid out in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act. To support this, we will maintain funding for the Climate Challenge Fund and will increase its effectiveness. We will also strengthen public engagement.
We believe that a strong public duty is required to help drive change. This needs to include mandatory reporting and should identify the contribution that could be made by encouraging greener workplaces and work practices.

Improving our environment
Environmental justice demands that nobody is left behind as we work to improve Scotland’s environment. From those living in the most deprived urban areas, to those in remote rural communities, everyone in Scotland has the right to breathe fresh air and live in a clean, healthy community.

In recent years there has been some success in increasing recycling rates and reducing the disposal of waste in landfill. The potential opportunities garnered from waste reduction and finding opportunities to extract value from discarded materials is increasingly being realised and now creates a significant number of secure jobs across Scotland. Scottish Labour will make further investments in this area in the years to come and we have an ambition to move towards a zero waste Scotland. We will consider the role council tax incentives could have in achieving this and will introduce a series of gradually phased-in bans on recyclable and biodegradable material going to landfill. We also aim to introduce ‘recycling on the go’, with separated recycling bins on streets and in shopping centres.

We will support new allotments and community gardens in both rural and urban areas, as a way of promoting affordable local food production. This will help set the expectation that green procurement is the norm, particularly for food provision, and help to generate new markets and supply chains for low carbon products.

Scottish Labour will explore the possibilities for restoring Scotland’s peat lands and will continue to support new tree planting as part of our climate change strategy, looking particularly at tackling the obstacles to increasing tree and woodland cover.  We will support the proposals for a Central Scotland Orchard. We will also encourage the use of wood products in the construction industry and will only purchase wood and wood-fibre based products from sources which are legal and sustainable, through schemes such as the Forest Stewardship Council.  We will assess the effectiveness of the policy, ensuring that necessary controls are in place throughout the whole timber supply chain.  We will continue to support the development of renewables on the national forestry estate and will focus on promoting opportunities for local communities to develop projects. Scottish Labour will also ensure Scotland’s forests remain in public ownership.

On land reform, Scottish Labour will review the groundbreaking legislation we introduced in the early years of the Parliament, with a view to promoting new opportunities for communities to own and manage their assets. We will also look at the new Land Use Strategy, to ensure it helps to reconcile competing pressures for different land uses and will review flood management funding, to ensure that defences can be put into place more quickly. Given that Scotland is not currently meeting its biodiversity targets, we will use the opportunity of the 2012 Rio +10 sustainable development conference to refresh the Scottish Government’s sustainable development strategy. We will develop a pilot measure of sustainable development, complimentary to GDP.

We will also continue to encourage long distance walking and cycling routes.  We are supportive of the proposal for a John Muir Way from his birthplace in Dunbar to our first National Park in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, to celebrate his centenary in 2014.

Greener, cleaner energy
Scottish Labour will work to ensure Scotland is a net exporter of electricity to the rest of the UK, Ireland and Europe. Scotland is uniquely placed to reap the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy generation and we will therefore aim for at least 80 per cent of our electricity to come from renewables by 2020. We will set up Energy Scotland to drive forward Scotland as a renewables world leader.

To achieve this, we will seek to expedite applications for new renewable energy developments within  nine months of them being lodged. We will also deliver a Green New Deal to tackle fuel poverty and drive down carbon emissions, which will offer whole-house energy efficient retrofits and microgeneration opportunities for 10,000 homes and businesses, creating jobs, traineeships and business opportunities for local firms across Scotland. Scottish Labour will consider how else to best use the new feed-in tariff to promote the expansion of household renewables and investigate further council tax discounts, grants and incentives for householders and businesses who make green changes.
Scottish Labour will create a policy framework to further encourage private sector investment in offshore wind, wave and tidal power. We will support the continuing contribution of the offshore oil and gas industry to our economy, whilst also seeking the transfer of skills and expertise in offshore renewables. We are committed to doubling the Saltire Prize.

We know that Scotland’s communities are the ideal platform for small-scale energy generation and we therefore aim to increase the production, distribution and use of community-scale heat and power, asking the Energy Savings Trust to continue a loan scheme to allow businesses and local authorities to take advantage of cost-effective opportunities. We also know that local bulk purchasing leads to lower prices and so we will also support community organisations, co-ops and social enterprises who pursue community renewable projects.  We will also require local authorities to produce heat maps, to assist in the identification of potential community and public renewable heat schemes.

Scottish Labour is determined to drive energy efficiency within our energy system and will tackle heat loss in energy generation by seeking to introduce schemes to capture and use surplus heat from the power stations via new ‘smart’ heat grids.  We are also supportive of the development of renewables in Scottish Water’s estate, and will enhance powers so that it can fulfil its renewable energy potential and use its assets more effectively.

We will not consent to new, non-replacement fossil-fired power stations unless they can demonstrate effective carbon capture and storage technology from the outset. We will also encourage operators of conventional power stations to develop opportunities to minimise heat waste.

Animal welfare
Scottish Labour believes that more action is needed on wildlife crime and we will ensure that the move to a single police force is used as an opportunity to deliver concerted action across Scotland to tackle this issue. We will seek to ban snaring, following a consultation on the issue and will toughen up regulations with regard to the welfare of racing greyhounds. We will also take measures to implement welfare legislation, including the use of animals in circuses, horses in livery yards and a review of pet vending regulations.

We will do all we can to boost Scotland’s successful tourism industry by promoting responsible wildlife tourism and maximising on the opportunities to promote positive conservation messages.

Supporting our rural and island communities
Scotland’s rural communities - along with being key to Scotland’s cultural and social heritage - play an important role in our economy and will be a vital component in getting Scotland through the tough times. Scottish Labour will establish a new Commission for Rural Scotland, to report on how best to ensure  remote, rural and island communities are not left behind as cuts to front-line services take hold, and can instead continue to contribute to building Scotland’s prosperity.

To support our rural communities, Scottish Labour will lobby the UK Government to reverse the VAT rise on fuel. We will campaign to support the retention of the universal service obligation, which ensures rural communities have access to decent mail services and will also work with communities to protect and develop local post offices in rural locations.

Scottish Labour will support rural business by ensuring that training opportunities exist for industries important to rural areas, such as land management, textiles, tourism and renewables industries.  We will also explore what more can be done to support local businesses in rural communities, including bringing forward a broadband strategy to extend and improve the quality of broadband and mobile coverage in remote and economically fragile rural areas.

We will support fairness for food producers through campaigning for reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. We will work to support a viable, community-focussed fishing industry.  We will also look both at the needs of communities who rely on fishing and  will work in partnership to develop a sustainable vision for our fishing industries for the future.
Scottish Labour will ensure that the review of support for farming considers how to deliver a range of benefits for our communities, including the provision of good quality food, well-maintained land, a scenic and biodiverse environment, well-managed water quality and climate change mitigation. We will continue to work to support farming in less-favoured areas and seek to use the Rural Development Programme to support the development of cooperatives and support for processing and marketing for Scottish produce, to ensure rural communities gain added value from food production. Scottish Labour continues to support the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board as an important protector of decent wages in farming communities. On tenant farming, Scottish Labour will take action on rent review clauses and will address inheritance anomalies.  

Scottish Labour will continue to support our crofting communities.  We will reflect the strong views of crofters during the passage of the Crofting (Scotland) Act 2010 by not commencing the second register specified by the Act, and not commencing reporting by grazings clerks.  We will focus instead on practical measures to support crofters in keeping their land management activities viable and helping them to find new economic activity.