Seòmar agus comataidhean

Many times.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I wish you well with this big and crucial portfolio. You mentioned in your opening remarks the importance of the just transition and climate justice, so I want to bring you back to that hoover bag of ministerial responsibilities. Where does ministerial responsibility for climate justice sit, and will the new director general for net zero have responsibility for climate justice and the just transition as well?

Many stakeholders look for clarity in that area. Climate justice is absolutely an issue that has a global context in relation to the global south, but it also links to the just transition in Scotland, where many low-income communities and marginalised people seek climate justice. Which minister has that responsibility? You said that your officials have some input to the international portfolio, but which minister would we see in front of us if we had questions about climate justice?

Yes. There are many ministers now, and lots of climate-related work is sitting elsewhere—

My question is for Dave Moxham. It relates to skills and jobs, which we have talked about. The green jobs workforce academy went live recently. I had a look at it this morning and, so far, it appears to be a website where people can find a list of jobs and training courses for everything from wind turbine technicians to heavy goods vehicle drivers. What should the academy be doing? It is early days, but what can it do to help to create jobs and get people into training?

Last week, we heard from the CCC and we have been looking at its recent carbon budget, which highlights the need for significant investment in order to reach net zero. Although CCC modelling shows savings in surface transport and energy production, there will also be costs in areas such as homes and industry. What are your views on how that can be managed and mitigated to spread the costs and benefits fairly? In particular, I am interested in how we can make sure that everyone can afford to make their home energy efficient. What I have taken from the discussion so far is that a just transition has to be principled, but it also has to be pragmatic and practical.

Sticking with your point that this has to be a national mission, we touched on the roles of the private sector and corporations last week. How important is it for the public sector to show leadership?

To give an example from the weekend, it was reported in Scotland on Sunday that some of the venues that will host COP26 have some of the worst-performing buildings in terms of energy efficiency. The armadillo, for example, has a rating of F. There could be good reasons why it has not been possible to put in place the improvements that have been asked for, but if it is really hard for big venues such as the Hydro, the armadillo and the Glasgow Science Centre, what chance do low-income households or small businesses have? How can we mobilise public sector expenditure? What would true public sector leadership look like—both for decarbonising buildings and for circular procurement?

That is helpful—thank you.

With regard to climate change as a health and safety issue for workers, I have a final, brief question for Dave Moxham on the issue of adaptations. What does a just transition to a net zero economy mean in relation to adaptations around climate change and resilience? From the point of view of the STUC, can you touch on what that means in workplaces and say how we can ensure that workers have some influence on the changes that need to happen?

I hope that we will see more unionised workplaces. I have no further questions.