Scottish government to prioritise energy efficiency

The Scottish Government is taking further action in the energy, environment and transport industries. They are focusing on reducing energy bills and addressing fuel poverty. This is the focus of the Government’s recent new package of measures.

Heat accounts for approximately half of Scotland’s emissions and approximately 55% of its energy demand. Scottish Parliament Climate Change Minister Aileen McLeod has announced a National Infrastructure Priority focusing on energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes and non-domestic building stock. Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme will be the cornerstone of the Priority.

The Minister said:

“Heating and cooling our homes and businesses costs £2.6 billion a year and accounts for approximately half of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency is clearly key to meeting our ambitious climate change targets which is why action on energy is a key focus as the Scottish Government step up our action on climate change.??“There is no silver bullet to tackling climate change which is why we are building on previous actions and announcing a comprehensive package of measures across a range of sectors.” “We are already making good progress and since 2008, nearly one in three households have installed energy efficiency measures to benefit from warmer homes and lower energy bills. The Scottish Government has already increased investment in domestic energy efficiency – from £99 million last year to £119 million this year. And since 2009 we have allocated over half a billion pounds on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency programmes.” “But we must do more to meet Scotland’s world-leading and ambitious climate change targets. That is why I am today announcing that improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s buildings will be designated a National Infrastructure priority.” “Scotland is on track to meet our ambitious emissions targets ahead of schedule, with these latest figures for 2013 showing we are more than three quarters of the way there with seven years still to go. Our emissions have fallen by 38.4 per cent from the 1990 baseline, outperforming the original 31.7 per cent reduction that was required to meet the 2013 annual fixed target.” “Today’s figures show that if it had not been for successive increases to the baseline since the targets were established, Scotland would have met, and exceeded, our target for this year - and the three previous years too. Of course, if our targets were easy to achieve they would not be ambitious enough. And these are the level the international community needs to meet if the international climate treaty to be agreed in Paris later this year is to stand a good chance of limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius.” “As negotiations continue this week to agree the text of that treaty, the Scottish Government stands firm in our commitment to tackling climate change – as demonstrated by these further measures I have outlined to Parliament today. The figures published today also highlight how significantly Scotland’s progress depends on the policies and actions of others – especially the UK and EU. In the run up to Paris, I will continue to press the international community to look to Scotland and follow our example in striving for the highest global ambition to tackle climate change.”