First Minister statement in relation to the success of electricity generation decarbonisation: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for the First Minister to explain a statement he made in FMQs on 20 June 2024 and also asked why a correction to the official report has not been made in relation to this statement.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

The electricity sector in Scotland is the most mature sector in terms of decarbonisation, with emissions falling by 13.0 Mt CO2e between 1990 and 2022 to 1.7 MtCO2 – an 88.1 per cent reduction, the largest reduction of any emissions sector.

In pursuit of emissions reduction, Scottish Government has shown clear policy leadership, within the powers available to it including: setting clear strategic direction for Scotland's future energy system through successive energy strategies; supportive planning and consenting systems for renewables; bold renewables ambitions paired with schemes such as the Renewables Obligation; policy positions supporting the growth of onshore and offshore renewable energy over unabated fossil fuel generation; and incentives in support of the switch away from fossil fuels for heat and transport sectors.

The First Minister was not incorrect in his statement in relation to the success of electricity generation decarbonisation and a correction of the official report is therefore not deemed appropriate.

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The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.