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Carbon capture and storage and negative emission technologies will be mission critical to delivering our climate change targets. That is not just my view—it is the view of the Committee on Climate Change, who are expert independent advisers on these matters. Indeed, such approaches will be critical not just to Scotland but to the whole of the UK. For the whole of the UK to achieve the UK Government’s target of net zero by 2050, it will need negative emission technologies such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

The Scottish cluster lost out on track 1 status, and we have continued to make representations to the UK Government on reversing that decision, simply because the UK Government’s own net zero strategy and carbon capture targets cannot be achieved without the Scottish cluster in the mix. We need to move forward with carbon capture, because it represents an important opportunity for us here to meet not just our climate targets but our energy transition, too.

As I have said, we continue to engage with the UK Government on this matter. It had been planning a track 2 process possibly this year, but perhaps into next; however, there have been ministerial changes and I do not know whether that timeline has changed.

Just last month, I met Scottish cluster representatives at St Fergus. What we need to understand is that not only is this approach mission critical, it is costing a lot of money to keep the partners together, and unless there is a very clear indication that this work will materialise soon, it will become increasingly difficult to make that happen. That is what worries me the most, and it is why we have offered £80 million of financial support. However, we need to get the regulatory agreement for it to move forward. The danger is that we lose the opportunity and the time slot to keep the partners together and ensure that we deliver on the Scottish cluster.

There is unanimous agreement on this matter across the Scottish Parliament; indeed, I know that Liam Kerr is a supporter of the Scottish cluster. We all want to see it happen but it needs to happen sooner rather than later, because it is costing money. The longer the process takes, the more difficult it will be to hold the partners together in order to make this a success.

I am happy to do that.

It will be out by the end of this year—I cannot be any more precise than that.

However, we also have our hydrogen investment proposition, which I published last week and launched at our hydrogen supply chain event for stakeholders in Edinburgh. The proposition is quite important, because a lot of the initial investment and opportunities around hydrogen will be driven largely by export potential rather than by domestic demand. There is huge interest in Scotland’s capability to produce large quantities of green hydrogen not just for our own domestic consumption but for export potential. The UK Government has an objective of producing 5GW between now and 2030; Scotland alone is looking to do 5GW, and there is a lot of interest from mainland European countries that will need to import green hydrogen and are therefore looking at import opportunities.

The investment proposition and supply chain event were important in starting to set out Scotland’s potential opportunity with regard to manufacturing and producing green hydrogen for our own needs and for export. We published the proposition last week, and I will publish the action plan by the end of this year. I cannot give you a specific date, but it will certainly be by the end of the year.

I can imagine the reaction that placing more duties on local authorities would receive. However, I think that it is a fair point. A lot of what local authorities are focused on is their direct corporate responsibility in looking to decarbonise and change their processes to make them less carbon intensive, whatever that may be. Is there a need for us to get them to think a bit wider than that? There are some local authorities that are better at it than others. If you look at some of the things that some local authorities are doing around transport issues, for example in active travel, EV charging infrastructure and the 20-minute neighbourhoods—all those things have a positive effect in the community. They are not direct corporate matters, but they have wider community and environmental benefits.

There is a fair amount being taken forward by local authorities that goes beyond just their direct corporate buildings and vehicles, but I think that there is a fair challenge there in questioning whether there is more that we could get local authorities to do. I am a bit hesitant to put more statutory targets around them at this stage, given the new statutory targets that come in in two months’ time on their own reductions targets.

We have the regional partnerships for transport planning, and taking that forward is then down to individual local authorities. Some local authorities are more proactive and better than others at pursuing transport planning. Is there more? We gave a commitment to review in this parliamentary session the structure for transport planning and to look at whether it is the optimal model to take forward. We want to do that co-productively with local authorities to make sure that the structure that we put in place reflects what they believe is the best approach, alongside what we are trying to achieve with transport planning. I would say that the model that we have now is maybe the optimal model, but there is scope for us to look at how we can improve it. Some local authorities are making good progress.

Through a combination of the bill proposals and our waste route map consultation, which closed just last month, we have set out some of the measures that we look to take forward to tackle the issue that Ms Lennon has raised. Those look at how we can transition much more effectively to a circular economy, how to increase reuse and recycling rates and how to modernise and improve the way in which waste and recycling services are provided.

Our approach will be a combination of the route map, which we will take forward with local authorities to help to drive forward improvements in waste management and recycling, and the circular economy bill, through which we will look at putting in place statutory provisions on targets and approaches that should be taken to help to reduce waste and increase recycling rates.

There is a requirement on local authorities, as part of the procurement process, to consider how they can ensure that they are taking an approach that is in line with our net zero ambitions and the requirements on them to meet net zero. Can we try to do more? I see companies becoming increasingly mindful in recognising their carbon footprint or contribution to tackling climate change. Some of that is feeding through into the procurement process, in which they are highlighting that they can do things much more efficiently and effectively. However, procurement has an important part to play in helping to encourage more of that, and local authorities, particularly in relation to their contracts, have an important role in helping to ensure that that happens.

I am not sure whether we make specific requirements on procurement as part of the circular economy bill as it is proposed at the moment, but I am more than happy to check that.

We are looking at whether it would go beyond that time. Part of that would be into any financial settlement for the next financial year, which starts in April next year, which is why it goes up to March 2023.

I am not entirely sure where that stands with regard to the emergency budget review. However, what comes into ScotWind might well be way in excess of what the Crown Estate had been expecting and it might well be that the level that you have indicated is not necessary.

You raise an important issue, which is the need to make sure that we do more to help to educate people and ensure that the information is available. As you are aware, a variety of schemes presently operate. Home Energy Scotland is the main point of contact for impartial advice and information as it stands now. There is a single point of contact to get the information and advice that individual households may be looking for.

Of course, we are also taking forward the development of our national public energy agency, which will have a clear role in helping to support decarbonisation and energy efficiency work, in making sure that there is a much more consistent approach across the country, and in bringing together a range of stakeholders engaged in this process.

Home Energy Scotland is the main point of contact for independent advice, but I expect that, as we take forward the development of our public energy agency, it will have a clear role in helping to support households and giving advice and information, as well as helping to co-ordinate the development of heat decarbonisation across local authorities, public sector organisations and the private housing sector.