Low-carbon Economy
3:30 pm

Patrick Harvie (Green)

The motion is in the name of the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change—and let me talk about transport just for a moment.

A low-carbon economy needs to involve more than just thinking about how we generate electricity. The current Government's economic priorities are clearly emphasised in projects such as the Forth road bridge, the M74 extension—which I am honestly sick of hearing the First Minister crow about—and the Aberdeen western peripheral route. Those transport investments cannot be seen as part of a low-carbon economy. When I challenge the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on that, he points out that public transport investment is happening too. That is not what we need to see. We cannot have both because, at the end of the day, more of both means more emissions.

Other contradictions mentioned in my amendment include the report that aviation subsidies are coming back on to the agenda—I would very much welcome the minister ruling that out in his closing speech—and the proposal for new coal-fired power-generating capacity at Hunterston. I understand that ministers cannot comment specifically on that now, but their national planning framework opened the door to new coal-fired power stations and they need to take some responsibility for that.

Good expansion of renewables has occurred and much more is to come, but the danger is that we turn that into a bidding war. We need to agree on committing to a wholly renewable future, which includes demand reduction to help to close the gap. That is why I certainly do not agree with Jackson Carlaw's points. He cast nuclear power as energy security, but sharing our energy resources with other countries is where our genuine energy security will come from.

Mr Carlaw likes to regard green politics as "batty" and I have no problem with that—I would worry if he agreed with my speeches, sometimes.