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RSPB Scotland Parliamentary Briefing
Climate Change: Debate on the Environment and
Rural Development Committee Report on Inquiry
21/09/05
Introduction
RSPB Scotland considers climate change to be the biggest global environmental threat facing
humans and the environment. A staggering number of species could be committed to extinction as
a result of climate change – a third or more of land based plant and animal species by the 2050s, if
we take no action to limit global warming. To avoid catastrophic impacts, the greenhouse gas
emissions responsible for climate change will have to be cut rapidly. Scotland should continue with
its commitment to emissions reductions but needs to do more to deliver real progress whilst
conserving the environment.
Summary
 The Scottish Executive should put in place clear targets for carbon emission reduction
within all key policy areas, along with an overall target for Scotland.
 The Scottish Executive should put in place improvements to the planning of energy
development and its transmission to avoid damage to important wildlife.
 The Scottish Executive should give greater priority to energy efficiency and demand
management to deliver emissions reductions.
 Protection of soil carbon, particularly in peatlands should be given higher priority in
land use and development planning.
 Whilst forestry plays an important role in carbon sequestration, the Scottish Executive
should avoid undue reliance on tree planting to meet carbon reduction targets and ensure
that the principles of environmentally sustainable forestry are maintained.
Wildlife is already responding to climate change
Evidence of the ecological impact of climate change is rapidly emerging. Wildlife is responding to
the unprecedented rate of temperature change with some bird species arriving earlier in migration,
earlier blooming dates for plants and earlier appearance of insects as spring creeps forward and
autumn recedes. These changes are not occurring uniformly and imbalances are leading to
disruption of the food chain for some species. Climate change may be having a dramatic damaging
effect on Britain’s coastal wildlife, through undermining the food supply of seabirds on the North
Sea coast. The spectacular seabird colonies on Shetland and Orkney have suffered catastrophic
breeding failure. Due to rising sea temperatures, the plankton mix at the base of the food chain has
altered radically, reducing the survival of sandeels – the staple diet of many seabirds. These
changes threaten an important part of our biodiversity and a key tourist attraction with significant
economic value.
Targets for cutting carbon emissions
RSPB Scotland supports the principle of ambitious targets for carbon emission reduction as a
powerful message for Government, industry and others to take action. The Royal Commission on
Environmental Pollution recommended UK targets of 60% carbon dioxide reduction by 2050 if we
are to minimise the effects of climate change.
The Scottish Executive through its Climate Change Programme has made an important
commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are no carbon reduction
targets to support the various initiatives and as a result it is hard for any sector to know what it is
expected to deliver. Without a strong focus on carbon reduction ‘outcomes’ it is too easy for
initiatives to be seen as an end in themselves. With energy generation, for example, progress in
renewables does not mean delivery of carbon reductions in that sector if there is a more rapid
increase in energy demand from non-renewable power supply.
The RSPB is an active member of Stop Climate Chaos1, a coalition of environment, development,
faith based and other organisations campaigning to limit climate change. Stop Climate Chaos is
calling on the Government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010.
The ERDC report para 83 called for a ‘route map’ with clear benchmarks for achieving cuts in
emissions. The Scottish Executive response to the Inquiry report gives no commitment to
developing a national target but simply refers to developing projections for carbon emissions.
The Scottish Executive should give a commitment to putting in place clear targets based on
carbon emission reduction within all key policy areas, along with an overall climate change
target for Scotland.
Delivering renewables sustainably
Scottish Ministers have emphasised that the Executive’s objective is to deliver renewables without
environmental harm. This can be achieved through careful siting of new developments to avoid
environmentally sensitive areas and employing a mix of renewables technologies. However, the
present planning system does not provide sufficient strategic steer resulting in developers pursuing
sites of national and international wildlife importance which because of their legal status results in
delay, as well as raising public concern and conflict. The proposal by Lewis Wind Power for a 700
MW windfarm on a Special Protection Area on Lewis has raised over 4000 objections including
statutory advisory bodies and NGOs across a range of environmental interests. Such proposals are
not necessary to deliver renewables targets and do little to enhance the reputation of the industry as
a whole.
We urge Scottish Ministers to refuse this application and to use the Environmental Advisory
Forum on Renewable Energy to develop strategic locational guidance for windfarm
developments.
The Scottish Executive should give greater priority to energy efficiency and demand
management to deliver emissions reductions. Energy demand-reduction targets should be set
high enough so that the scale of renewable energy development need not extend beyond our
ability to accommodate it without environmental harm.
Conserving soil carbon
The carbon balance of peatlands is a key factor in assessing Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions
and significant carbon emissions are attributed to peatland damage. The Scottish Biodiversity
Strategy recognises the importance of peatlands in relation to climate change and incorporates
ambitious targets for their restoration over extensive areas.
The ERDC report para 145 calls for robust management strategies to avoid emissions from
Scotland’s soils. The Scottish Executive’s response suggests that a range of policy measures is
already in place. Unfortunately, the policy mechanisms to support peatland restoration such as the
SNH Peatland Management Scheme and Agri-environment measures are limited in the funding
available and in their extent. As a result, peatland restoration targets are not being met.
1
www.stopclimatechaos.org
The Scottish Executive also has a commitment to ‘develop soil management strategies/policies
which will promote conservation and enhancement of biodiversity’. It is not clear whether this will
include specific policies to protect peatlands against damage from new development.
The Scottish Executive should give higher priority to safeguarding and restoring peatland
habitats through more targeted support and greater resources to peatland management schemes.
Development planning policy should be brought in line with forestry policy to ensure new
development avoids damaging areas of active peatland habitat.
Forestry and carbon
RSPB Scotland does not consider carbon sequestration through reforestation/afforestation as an
effective solution to climate change. The area of land required to deliver genuine reductions in
carbon emissions would be out of proportion with the Forestry Commission Scotland’s reasonable
balance duties under the 1967 Forestry Act, as well as its duty to further biodiversity under the 2004
Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act.
The ERDC report para 155 recommends that the Scottish Forestry Strategy should be reviewed with
the specific objective of addressing climate change considerations. The Scottish Executive’s
response states that climate change will be considered as part of the overall consideration of the
outcomes from forestry in Scotland. RSPB Scotland welcomes this wider review of forestry rather
than simply pursuing a single purpose of developing forestry for climate change benefits, which
could undermine other environmental and social objectives. Furthermore, the carbon benefits of
forestry are not clearly understood, with the risk that some management regimes (including
thinning, felling, timber transport over long distances and processing) are significant sources of
carbon.
The Scottish Executive should ensure that any claimed carbon benefits from forestry are accurate
and seek proper carbon accounting for the full life cycle of the different types of forest
management. The principles of sustainable multi-benefit forestry (already part of government
forestry policy commitments) should be maintained in pursuing any carbon reductions from the
forestry sector.
The RSPB are concerned at the implications of industrial scale electricity generation from
wood/short rotation coppice, both in terms of the large area of land required to provide biomass as
well as the pressure for intensive woodland management. Figures published by the Royal Society
show that a 30MW plant would require an area of woodland of between 69 and 168 sq km to
provide a sustainable, annual supply of fuel. Large electricity power stations looking to co-fire
using biomass could have even greater demands.
We would therefore urge the Scottish Executive to avoid blunt policy incentives for renewable
energy from biomass. Measures should instead be employed to encourage small-scale and
domestic schemes and to encourage supply from sustainably managed forests, through FSC
compliant forest and chain of custody certification.
For further information please contact:
Clifton Bain, Senior Policy Officer ([email protected])
RSPB Scotland, 25 Ravelston Terrace, Edinburgh EH4 3TP Tel: 0131 311 6500 Fax: 0131 311 6569
Registered Charity Number: 207076