Presiding Officer—[Interruption.]

Let us hear Lorna Slater.

Presiding Officer, 2024 was the hottest year on record. We are seeing the climate break down in front of our eyes in devastating floods and raging wildfires. This is just the start now that planet earth has crossed the threshold of 1.5°C of global heating. The promises that were made in the Paris agreement have proven worthless, and global leaders have failed to protect our planet. Is Scotland’s First Minister prepared to take serious action on land use change; on reducing traffic by introducing road charges and cutting the cost of public transport; and on making homes warmer, greener and cheaper to heat, so that we can get back on track to meet our climate targets?

I am certainly committed to ensuring that we take action on the climate. I want to make sure that we fulfil the obligations that Parliament has put into statute, and that we take the practical actions to ensure that that can be the case.

The Government has a number of policy measures in place that will assist us in that work, and Parliament knows and understands what they are. Some of them involve investment that is tied up with the Government’s budget, which involves, for example, £300 million for the heat in buildings programme and investment of nearly £200 million in a range of active and sustainable transport measures.

The Government is committed to the policy agenda of taking action on the climate, in addition to the steps that we are taking on renewable energy. We are also taking the practical financial steps to ensure that that programme is in place to support those policy interventions.

We have a duty to future generations not to let global heating spiral out of control. Existing oil and gas production must wind down as we transition to renewable energy, and new oil and gas exploration is not compatible with Scotland’s climate commitments.

The last time that the First Minister was asked about Scotland’s energy strategy, he said that the reason for further delay was recent court decisions blocking oil and gas projects on environmental grounds. However, those decisions would worry him only if he intended to support new oil and gas projects in Scotland. Will he confirm the presumption against new oil and gas in Scotland?

The Government has obligations to ensure that all our policy interventions are well evidenced and to take into account all the circumstances that we face. The court cases that I cited are relevant because they fundamentally affect decision making and policy approaches in relation to consent to any oil and gas developments. It is important that the Government takes time to understand all those issues and engage with the UK Government, which is the decision-making body on those questions.

I say to Parliament that the Government is absolutely committed to our agenda on climate action. We have binding statutory targets, and I want Scotland to achieve those targets, because I want us to play our part in protecting the planet. I accept fundamentally the point that Lorna Slater put to me, which is that those issues are in jeopardy because of the temperature of the planet last year. I want to ensure that Scotland plays its part in addressing that.