Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, 5 November 2021
I would like to provide the Committee with an update on the Environment Strategy for Scotland’s Monitoring Framework website, which I will launch later today.
As you will know, the Environment Strategy for Scotland creates an overarching framework for Scotland’s strategies and plans on the environment and climate change. It forms part of our strategic approach to environmental policy after EU Exit, alongside new arrangements for environmental principles and governance, and it sits alongside high-level Scottish Government policy frameworks, including the new National Strategy for Economic Transformation, the Fairer Scotland Action Plan, the National Transport Strategy and the National Planning Framework.
In February 2020, the Scottish Government published The Environment Strategy for Scotland: Vision and Outcomes. This document set out an ambitious, long-term vision for Scotland’s natural environment and our role in tackling the global climate and nature crises. It also identified the outcomes on which we will focus as we work towards this vision. The strategy recognises that adapting to live, and thrive, within the planet’s sustainable limits will require transformative changes across our economy and society; but that in doing so, we can transform our country for the better – helping to build a stronger, more resilient economy, tackling inequalities and improving the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s people.
Since the vision was published, the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for public health, our economy and society. However, it has also opened up opportunities for improvement. This website is launched as Scotland hosts COP26 in Glasgow, arguably the world’s last best chance to address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. It is also being launched on the same day as the First Minister’s Environmental Council publishes its first report, setting out their ambitions and future work programme to respond to these crises. In this new context, the Environment Strategy vision remains as important as ever – helping to guide and support our ambitions for delivering a green recovery and building a net zero, nature positive wellbeing economy.
The Environment Strategy for Scotland: Initial Monitoring Framework was published in February 2021. Mirroring the simplicity of the vision and outcomes publication, it identifies a small number of high-level indicators that will be used to track progress towards the Environment Strategy outcomes. It also identifies areas where further work will be undertaken to develop robust measures of progress. The Environment Strategy Monitoring Framework website is an online reporting platform for the status and trends of the Initial Monitoring Framework indicators. It will enable the Parliament and civil society to track progress against the Environment Strategy, and will help to identify areas for priority action.
The next steps for the Environment Strategy include developing pathways for the outcomes outlined in the vision document, that will identify strategic priorities and opportunities for significant progress. This work will also develop our response to the requirements in the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, for Scottish Ministers to prepare and present to the Parliament an environmental policy strategy.