Removing the obstacles to our energy future

Shortly before the Scottish Parliament entered its summer recess at the end of June, Scotland’s Climate Change Bill completed its passage through Parliament and passed into law. Given that climate change falls within my portfolio, this was an enormously pleasing event for me.

Scotland now has the most ambitious climate change legislation in the world, with a legal commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. These are extremely challenging targets, but they are targets that Scotland can achieve and in doing so lay down a challenge for the rest of the world to play its part in fighting climate change.

Key to success will be the enormous potential that Scotland has to be a renewable energy powerhouse. With 25% of Europe’s offshore wind and wave energy potential and 10% of Europe’s tidal energy potential located off our shores, the environmental and economic opportunities that Scotland has are massive.

However, if we are to be successful in this area we need the UK Government to do its bit by removing the barriers that currently stand in the way of Scotland’s developing renewables industry. As things stand, transmission charges for the national grid penalise energy companies north of the border - particularly those in remote areas – for sending their electricity to consumers.

If the UK Government is serious about tackling climate change, there is a clear need for the transmission charging regime to be overhauled to create a level playing field. It cannot be right that it is the companies producing clean, renewable energy that are paying the most for transmitting their electricity.

There is enormous economic potential in producing green, renewable energy in Scotland in coming years but we cannot afford for the UK Government to threaten this with unfair charges. The SNP group in Westminster is pushing strongly for the necessary changes to be made and I hope that they will succeed in their efforts.

Coordinating our food and drink sector

Recent weeks also saw the launch of Scotland’s first ever national food and drink policy, something that could have profound implications for the future of Banff & Buchan’s fishing and farming sectors. Scotland has an international reputation for producing top quality food and drink and the food and drink manufacturing sector already generates £7.3 billion for our economy every year through sales.

Yet there is enormous potential for growth in the sector, something that this new policy aims to encourage. With the right targets and programmes in place, the sector can increase to the point of generating £10 billion a year by 2017. Through marketing Scotland as a ‘Land of Food and Drink’, the Scottish Government aims to build upon our already excellent reputation for quality produce and maximise the opportunities available to sell Scottish food and drink around the world. By helping people to learn new skills related to the industry, we can help ensure that there are more new entrants into a wide range of food and drink related jobs and enable successful businesses to recruit more people as they expand. With carefully targeted funding, the Scottish Government can help many food and drink businesses flourish.

By developing a holistic, joined up approach, the national food and drink policy has real potential to increase the profits of everyone involved in the manufacture or sale of food and drink. Given the high number of people involved in the sector in some way in Banff & Buchan, there are few places that stand to gain more from the new policy.