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As of December 2023, Scotland’s operational onshore wind capacity is around 9.5 GW. Within the project pipeline there is additional 13.9 GW of potential onshore wind capacity in Scotland. This consists of:

• 1.7 GW under construction.
• 4.8 GW awaiting construction.
• 7.4 GW in planning.

Energy Trends: UK renewables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

A key industry commitment from the Onshore Wind Sector Deal was to publish a pipeline report on how Scotland may achieve its ambition of 20 GW of onshore wind by 2030. Scottish Renewables have committed to updating the report on a biannual basis. Scottish Onshore Wind Project Pipeline Analysis Dec 23 FULL REPORT (scottishrenewables.com)

The Scottish Government is committed to the principle that local communities should be involved in the decisions about land that affect them, including those relating to forestry.

Consultations are an essential part of the decision-making process in forestry, and last year Scottish Forestry updated guidance that sets out the Engagement and Consultation Processes for forestry plans and proposals in Scotland.

Where significant harvesting plans are proposed this will normally involve two stages, firstly applicants are expected to engage with communities and neighbours, providing them with an opportunity to input `before plans have been finalised, and secondly Scottish Forestry runs a formal public consultation exercise as part of decision making process for applications involving significant tree harvesting.

Scotland’s woodland creation planting target is set out in the Climate Change Plan. The plan includes ambitious targets for woodland creation, aiming to increase woodland cover from around 18% to 21% of the total area of Scotland by 2032, with the planting target increasing to 18,000 hectares annually.

Although Scotland faces the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, the Scottish Government remains committed to maximising the important contribution forestry makes in tackling the climate emergency.

We fund woodland creation through the Forestry Grant Scheme, which has made £39.2 million available to support woodland creation in 2024-25.

Woodland creation projects, including both planting and natural regeneration schemes are being approved on an ongoing basis and whilst this funding will not allow us to reach this year’s target, it will help create over 9,000 hectares of new woodland. This will help maintain the level of planting close to the average achieved over the last 5 years and allow for increased planting in the future should funding from the UK Government be forthcoming. Putting this in context, it will still allow Scotland to create more woodland than the rest of the UK combined.

As of 1 May 2024, there were 732,654 cardholders under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme. The following table shows the number of cardholders broken down to local authority level.

Forestry and Land Scotland commissioned research that identified five potential additional sites for the translocation of beavers to Scotland’s national forests in 2024.

As of Tuesday 30 April 2024, there had been a total of 137,014,833 journeys made under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme.

The information requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government does publish annual Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics, which include domestic and international aviation, but it is not possible to break these down by scheduled or non-scheduled flight, or by the type of engine powering each aircraft. Therefore, it is not possible to determine emissions from private jets.

The Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) will set clear ambitions for increasing Scotland’s renewable energy capacity. It will outline a route map of actions for the Scottish Government, the UK Government and others to take to deliver these ambitions whilst supporting a just transition.

In 2023, Scotland generated over 33 Terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity from renewable sources. The most recent consumption statistics (from 2021) show that Scotland generated the equivalent of 23.7% of its energy consumption from renewable sources.

Energy Statistics for Scotland - Q2 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Energy Trends: UK renewables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Forestry and Land Scotland has no plans to increase the number of artificial nest platforms for (a) raptors in Scotland’s national forests in the two National Parks nor for (b) priority national conservation initiatives.

This position will be kept under review if new evidence is presented.

Between October 2023 and January 2024, the following beavers were translocated to the following locations on Scotland's National Forests and Land by Forestry and Land Scotland:

Knapdale – Two beavers into Loch Laraiche;

Knapdale – One beaver into Loch Linne;

Knapdale – Two beavers into Creige Moire;

Knapdale – Two beavers into Lochan Buic.

Loch Kinardochy – Two beavers.