Draft Climate Change Plan 2026-2040: scrutiny by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

The Committee is disappointed at the significant delays in laying a draft CCP despite the importance of thorough Parliamentary scrutiny and the legal requirement that the conclusions of that work be regarded by the Scottish Government when producing the final Plan. We request that the Scottish Government provides clarity on whether there is time before the end of the parliamentary Session for the Scottish Government to make the changes we have heard are required.

The Committee hopes that if not fully incorporated into the final CCP, the recommendations within this report will be addressed during the development of the new Heat in Buildings Strategy and Delivery Plan (subject to the outcome of the election). We hope the new strategy will significantly accelerate progress in decarbonising buildings in the coming years.

The CCP is required to be updated every 5 years which means future iterations may again coincide with the 5-year Parliamentary election cycle. This should be avoided and the Scottish Government should commit to publishing the next iteration of the CCP significantly earlier in the next Session to allow for appropriate consideration of the recommendations of parliamentary committees when producing the final plan.

It is disappointing that in developing the draft CCP the Scottish Government was not mindful of the recommendation made by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee back in 2023 for a roadmap to delivery of net zero. As a result it is lacking in the detail which stakeholders have called for. The Committee notes that the local government sector has offered to work with the Scottish Government in developing a route-map for delivery and recommends that this is taken forward as a priority.

The Committee recommends that the final version of the CCP should include reference to the role of local authorities to deliver each policy and proposal. The Committee heard from local authorities that they would appreciate greater clarity on the funding which will be made available to them by the Scottish Government or where the Scottish Government will support and facilitate access to private funding.

Tackling climate change is one of many demands on local government resources, and will intersect with a number of key issues such as housing and transport. As a minimum, each local authority needs to retain climate change teams with sufficient skills and expertise to guide and inform the authority's journey to net zero. Given the importance of local authorities in tackling climate change and thus meeting the CCP's ambitions the Scottish Government should explore what additional resource and long-term certainty it can provide through multi-year funding.

The Committee recognises the important role that the SCIS has in monitoring and collating data to underpin authorities' work to tackle climate change, and that work is ongoing to identify suitable 'early warning indicators'. The Committee recommends the Scottish Government keep the Scottish Parliament updated on progress with that important analysis.

The NZET Committee has considered the transport component of the CCP in more detail and so this Committee has not explored it further, but highlights the important role of local authorities in delivering transport policy and the challenges they face in decarbonising public transport and EV infrastructure.

The Committee highlights the evidence we have heard on waste to the Scottish Government and to the NZET Committee.

The Committee highlights the evidence we have heard on renewable energy developments (in relation to local authorities and communities) to the Scottish Government and to the NZET Committee.

Once again the Committee must highlight to the Scottish Government that the resourcing of planning departments continues to be an area of significant concern. As with its past conclusions on the progress being made in delivering NPF4 it must stress how important addressing this is to meeting the Scottish Government's ambitions - in this respect in its delivery of its aim reach net zero by 2045.

The Committee was pleased to hear about the work underway by the Scottish Government to help address the shortage of planners. The Committee considers the CCP is an opportunity to specify how the Scottish Government thinks this should be addressed in the long term and the Committee recommends the Plan should contain more detail on resourcing of planning departments.

The Committee recognises that expanding the use of heat networks is a priority for the Scottish Government and this is under active development. However, the draft CCP merely signposts development of future strategy and legislation, rather than containing concrete plans. In due course the Scottish Parliament may scrutinise the new Bill, however in the meantime the Committee recommends the Government considers in detail the issues raised by local authorities about where barriers exist and then sets out how they will each be addressed.

LHEES are clearly an important tool in the Scottish Government's net zero ambitions and have been very successful in developing a significant body of data across all 32 local authorities. It appears, however, that to build on this through local authority delivery of the actions identified, they will require additional long-term investment to build their capacity. The Committee welcomes the Scottish Government's review of LHEES and recommends that it sets out how the Scottish Government will use the review and results of this to build on the valuable existing work.

The Committee is concerned that stakeholders lack confidence that the CCP will sufficiently drive the necessary progress in decarbonising buildings. As they have highlighted to the Committee, there is arguably little that is new in the CCP which seems to instead bring together the many strands of work already planned or underway.

Stakeholders are calling for the CCP to provide greater clarity about the actions required - a 'route-map' in effect. The Scottish Government has indicated that it is actively responding to the feedback it is receiving during the course of its consultation and the Parliament's scrutiny, and that the final version will provide more of the 'how', together with the intended Strategy which is to be published before the end of the year.

It is regrettable that there have been such significant delays in delivering the Scottish Government's commitment to bring forward legislation on heat in buildings. The Cabinet Secretary for Housing told the Committee that this will not jeopardise the target to decarbonise buildings by 2045, but also heard from witnesses that it has not only put at risk the Government's own net zero targets, but has also created significant uncertainty for the housing sector and for home-owners.

Whilst it is not the scope of this report to consider the draft Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill in its current form, it is important to note its importance in Scotland's ambitions to meet net zero by 2045. The initial reaction to the draft Bill from stakeholders has raised concerns that it will not provide the clarity which they are seeking. The final CCP should do more to specifically highlight the intended impact of the proposed Bill.

It is clear that retrofitting Scotland's existing housing stock at sufficient scale and pace will be essential to decarbonising heating, and therefore to meeting the CCP's targets. A piecemeal approach which continues to rely on individuals taking action will not be sufficient. The Committee is concerned that the projected rates of heat pump installations will not sufficiently scale up by 2030 in order to put Scotland on course to reaching the 2045 target.

There needs to be national leadership from the Scottish Government in partnership with the UK Government to deliver this through a coherent delivery plan, for example a National Retrofit Strategy as proposed by witnesses. It may be that the Scottish Government's intended Heat in Buildings Strategy and Delivery Plan will meet this need. If so, this should include planning for:
An area-based approach which enables retrofitting to take place at scale using housing archetypes. This would in turn help reduce costs and enable local supply chains to be developed.
Retrofitting Scotland's significant proportion of tenement and flatted buildings.
Meeting the particular challenges in retrofitting rural properties.

The Committee considered whether there may be a particular role for local authorities in becoming a trusted supplier of technology such as heat pumps, and notes that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has confirmed that in principle this may be possible. The Committee recommends that the Scottish Government should explore this further as an option for ensuring decarbonisation takes place at the scale and pace required.

Having sufficient numbers of trained tradespeople to deliver retrofitting is clearly critical, and the draft CCP acknowledges the significant additional numbers required in order to deliver its aims. It does not however provide detail on how that challenge will be tackled. The National Retrofit Plan which the Committee recommends is developed by the Scottish Government should incorporate a Skills Plan that sets out how the gap will be addressed, in particular in rural areas where the skills shortage is greater, and with a focus on supporting SMEs to grow their retrofit workforce.

The Committee invites the Scottish Government to note the success of the Edinburgh and South-East City Region deal in investing in skills, and recommends it incorporates this approach with a National Retrofit Plan.

The Committee appreciates the inherent inefficiencies in relying on heat decarbonisation taking place home-by-home, but it remains critical that the public understand both the importance of taking action and what steps they can take as individuals or households. The Committee notes that there is an existing public engagement strategy in place but heard concerns that little progress has been made. The draft CCP stresses the importance of supporting people and communities and reiterates the Scottish Government's commitment to fund a range of delivery schemes, but is very brief on this important area.

The Committee recommends that the final CCP is accompanied by an updated and detailed public engagement strategy that sets out how different audiences will be targeted and explores the role that different sectors will have, especially that of local authorities as a trusted voice. This should also provide clarity about the role of the Heat and Energy Efficiency Scotland agency.

Given the importance of the public taking action to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, and a real-term decrease in the budget for 2026-2027 for energy efficiency and decarbonisation the Committee recommends that the Scottish Government looks more widely than Home Energy Scotland to meet the demand for advice and guidance. It should actively explore how to foster the 'one-stop shops' suggested by witnesses which could provide tailored support for improvement projects. The approach in Ireland may provide a useful exemplar.

Clearly the Scottish Government cannot finance the expense of decarbonising every home in Scotland, and the CCP notes the important role that private investment and finance will have. The Government can seek to remove barriers to people obtaining finance, and the Committee heard a number of practical suggestions. It has not explored these in detail but recommends that the Scottish Government considers and responds to these:
Retrospective applications for heat pump grants, given that heating systems are often replaced in emergency situations (for example after breaking down during winter months).
Widening the eligibility for grants beyond heat pumps, for example to other technologies such as air-to-air heat pumps on a case by case basis.
A 'help to retrofit' scheme for older homeowners where costs are covered on the sale of a property.

The issues raised on energy cost and production by witnesses are familiar concerns which the Committee wishes to reiterate in this report. However the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee is considering the energy supply sector in more depth during its scrutiny of the CCP and so the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee has not explored this in further detail. It notes however that without clarity from the UK Government on electricity pricing it is difficult to see how the public can be persuaded to make the switch from polluting heating systems in sufficient numbers.