Draft Environment Strategy

2. Vision and Outcomes

2.1 Vision

Our Vision is:

One Earth. One home. One shared future.

By 2045: By restoring nature, ending Scotland's contribution to climate change and tackling pollution, our country is transformed for the better - helping to secure the wellbeing of our people and planet for generations to come.

In Scotland, we will play our full role in tackling the global crises of nature loss, climate change and pollution, helping to safeguard our shared planet for all life on Earth. We will harness the enormous opportunities this creates for Scotland to flourish as a fairer, greener and more prosperous nation.

Like other countries, Scotland’s communities and economy fundamentally rely on the health of our planet’s ecosystems. They provide the essentials we all need to survive: the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. They support our health and quality of life in countless ways, supplying vital sources of medicine, reducing the risk of pandemics and providing free spaces for exercise, play and inspiration. They perform a crucial role in removing carbon from the atmosphere while strengthening the resilience of Scotland’s communities to the inevitable impacts of climate change. They supply the energy, resources and essential services our economy needs to thrive, underpinning the productivity of many sectors and supporting jobs and businesses across our country. The beauty and quality of Scotland’s nature and landscapes is the essence of our national identity, boosting the success of our exports and tourist industry, and attracting people and businesses to choose Scotland as a place to live, work and invest. And, of course, alongside its fundamental role in sustaining our wellbeing and prosperity, nature is intrinsically valuable in its own right.

We know that the richness of life on Earth, and the health of its ecosystems, is declining faster than at any point in human history. Alongside climate change and pollution, this is an existential threat to humanity. These linked crises arise from stretching the planet’s natural systems beyond sustainable limits. They demand an urgent, decisive, global response and we are committed to playing Scotland’s full role.

We will restore biodiversity and ecosystems across Scotland’s land and seas to a healthy, functioning state, while also ensuring our overseas impact on nature is sustainable. We will reach net zero by 2045, as well as reducing the emissions from our consumption of imported goods. And we will tackle sources of pollution and waste to protect our environment in Scotland and overseas.

To achieve this, we will support positive changes in our economy and society that will transform our country for the better. We will seize the opportunities from Scotland’s just transition to the green industries, businesses and jobs of the future. We will grow a circular economy that boosts efficiency, cuts waste and builds Scotland’s resilience to disruptions in global supply chains. We will restore the natural capital that is the foundation of many sectors, especially in our rural and island economies, safeguarding their long-term productivity. Transformations in how we travel and heat our homes will ensure everyone can enjoy the health benefits from warm homes, active travel and clean air. Our health will also benefit from a shift to more diverse, healthy and sustainably-produced food. Nature-rich urban areas will provide healthy, inclusive and climate-resilient places for communities, and all children will experience the benefits of outdoor nature-based education and play. By healing our relationship with nature, we will be a stronger, more successful country.

Social justice will be at the heart of these transformations. We will grasp the multitude of opportunities they present for tackling poverty and inequalities in Scotland - from creating good green jobs and a skilled workforce, to cutting fuel and transport poverty, and from tackling diet-related health inequalities to ensuring everyone can experience the life-enhancing benefits of access to nature and a clean environment. We will also promote climate and environmental justice for countries in the Global South, who are already suffering the worst impacts of climate change and nature loss, yet have contributed least to its causes. And we will honour our responsibilities to protect the planet for future generations and all life on Earth.

2.2 Outcomes

The following outcomes will support the delivery of our Vision (Figure 3):

Four outcomes describe our goals for tackling climate change and restoring the health of our natural environment, in Scotland and overseas:

• Scotland’s biodiversity is restored and regenerated
• We have ended Scotland’s contribution to climate change
• We minimise pollution and waste in our environment
• Scotland’s global environmental impact is sustainable.

Two outcomes describe the positive transformations in our society and economy that will support these goals, while creating wider benefits for Scotland’s prosperity and wellbeing:

• Scotland’s society is transformed for the better by living sustainably, in harmony with nature
• Scotland’s net zero, nature positive and circular economy thrives within the planet’s sustainable limits.

Two cross-cutting outcomes explain how this will help to strengthen Scotland’s resilience to global risks and support social justice in Scotland and overseas:

• We build Scotland’s resilience to climate change and other global environmental risks
• These transformations are achieved through a just transition and support climate and environmental justice.

Working towards our vision will play an important role in delivering the National Outcomes in our National Performance Framework^[12] and our contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This is summarised in Figure 4, with further detail and a key set out in Annex A.

2.3 Delivering the vision and outcomes

The sections that follow outline draft high-level pathways for achieving each of the Strategy’s eight outcomes. The pathways present a summary of existing policies and set out proposals and priorities that will guide future policy development.

These draft priorities for delivery are summarised in Table 1, below. The pathways on pages 13 to 60 describe an initial assessment of opportunities for future policy development in each of these priority areas. We will continue to work across government and with stakeholders to refine these priorities, and our approach to achieving them, taking account of the feedback to this consultation. This will include carefully considering impacts on people, communities and businesses, in order to ensure that delivery of the Strategy supports all four of the First Minister’s priorities for government, outlined on page 1.

Implementation of the Strategy will involve a range of interconnecting transformations, and there will be important – and sometimes difficult – trade-offs between the objectives of the Strategy. Change will depend on a mixture of policy levers, as well as wider societal behavioural changes over time. Implementation will require effective and thoughtful policy design and decision-making to find solutions that maximize opportunities and minimize costs, and ensure that the full effects of change are considered before policy decisions are made. We will therefore set out guidance on how to reflect the aims of the Strategy and support effective policy development across the whole of government. We will do this as part of our work to support implementation of the Continuity Act duty on Scottish Ministers to have due regard to the Strategy.^[13]

To guide future improvements in our approach, we will monitor progress in delivering the Strategy’s outcomes. Arrangements for monitoring and reporting are described on page 60.

Table 1: Draft priorities for delivery

Outcome:

• Scotland’s biodiversity is restored and regenerated  

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Implement the Strategic Framework for Biodiversity, including the Biodiversity Delivery Plan
• Implement marine environmental policies, including the UK Marine Strategy

Outcome:

• We have ended Scotland’s contribution to climate change    

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Support delivery of Scotland’s 2045 net zero target by publishing and implementing a new Climate Change Plan
• Support reduction of Scotland’s global carbon footprint, including through implementation of the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map

Outcome:

• We minimise pollution and waste in our environment

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Implement Cleaner Air for Scotland 2
• Implement measures for improving Scotland’s water environment in the 3rd River Basin Management Plan
• Implement actions for tackling plastic pollution in the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map, National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and Marine Litter Strategy
• Implement the shared legislative chemicals framework with Welsh and UK Governments

Outcome:

• Scotland’s global environmental impact is sustainable           

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Drive Scotland’s transition to a circular economy
• Address sectors with a high ecological footprint: food and textiles
• Ensure our net zero energy transition has a sustainable overseas footprint
• Use trade as a lever to improve our international environmental impact
• Collaborate internationally to support a sustainable future

Outcome:

• Scotland’s society is transformed for the better by living sustainably, in harmony with nature    

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Strengthen our connection with nature
• Create nature-rich towns and cities
• Ensure everyone’s health and wellbeing benefits from access to a healthy environment
• Strengthen nature-based education to inspire care for nature and improve outcomes for children 
• Enhance animal welfare, as part of our strengthened relationship with nature
• Harness the transformational power of the arts
• Explore opportunities for rights-based approaches to reflect the connections between people and nature
• Empower Scotland’s people to live well, sustainably
• Food: shift towards sustainable, healthy diets and cut food waste
• Transport: shift from car use towards active travel and public transport, transition to electric vehicles and reduce emissions from aviation
• Housing: support energy efficiency and clean heating systems, and improve the nature-value of homes and gardens
• Consumer choices: encourage sustainable consumer behaviours, guided by the circular economy ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ hierarchy

Outcome:

• Scotland’s net zero, nature positive and circular economy thrives within the planet’s sustainable limits

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Drive the just transition to the green industries of the future
• Boost industrial decarbonisation by embedding circular economy practices, energy and resource efficiency, fuel switching and use of sustainable materials
• Design Scotland’s net zero energy system to help protect and restore nature
• Build regenerative and resilient land and marine-based industries
• Empower Scottish businesses to prosper sustainably
• Strengthen environmental risk management
• Embrace circular economy business models
• Pioneer new green ways of doing business: green social enterprises
• Embed sustainability throughout supply chains
• Enable these transformations      
• Ensure sustainability standards (such as the New Build Heat Standard) provide clear direction for business and secure access to market
• Consider future development of tax measures to ensure sustainable options are cost effective for businesses
• Strengthen coordination across regional and place-based initiatives
• Reflect environmental aspects of wellbeing in how we measure economic success
• Invest in a better future     
• Unlock an appropriate mix of high integrity public and private finance
• Support international efforts to green the financial system
• Promote implementation of the sustainable procurement duty
• Invest in the infrastructure needed for Scotland’s green economy
• Catalyse these transformations by supporting innovation
• Support the green skills needed by Scotland’s workforce of the future
  

Outcome:

• We build Scotland’s resilience to climate change and other global environmental risks  

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Build Scotland’s resilience to climate change
• Build Scotland’s resilience to nature-related risks

Outcome:

• These transformations are achieved through a just transition and support climate and environmental justice

Draft priorities for delivery:

• Deliver the just transition to a net zero, nature positive Scotland Support climate and environmental justice in Scotland and overseas