The Environment Strategy for Scotland: Business Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)

Section 1: Background, aims and options

Background to policy issue

The Scottish Government is required to prepare an “environmental policy strategy” by the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 (“the Continuity Act”). The Environmental Strategy has been developed to fulfil this obligation, and to provide a holistic framework for delivering Scotland’s role in tackling nature loss, climate change and pollution.

The Environment Strategy is centred on the connections between tackling the climate emergency, while supporting increased business and investment opportunities, green jobs, improving people’s health, tackling poverty and promoting social justice. It focuses on approaches that will promote wellbeing and social justice for Scotland’s communities and strengthen our economy, helping us to become a fairer, more prosperous and resilient nation.

In line with the First Minister’s landmark speech on the climate crisis, the Environment Strategy reflects the urgency of climate actions, and the central role of restored nature in meeting climate goals and supporting the wellbeing of communities. The Strategy also includes circular economy policies, and relates these to economic growth, community resilience and the moral obligation to reduce our impact on the planet.

The Strategy builds on a wide range of existing policies. It will sit alongside existing high-level Scottish Government policy frameworks, which have the aim of reaching net zero by 2045 and restoring our nature. These strategies include Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation , the Fairer Scotland Action Plan, the National Transport Strategy, Green Industrial Strategy and the National Planning Framework. It will also support and complements the new Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and Scottish National Adaptation Plan while referring to the upcoming Circular Economy strategy and new Climate Change Plan. It refers to the Agricultural Reform Programme and the set of existing Marine policies and plans. The Strategy provides an overarching framework for environmental policies, and for the interaction of environmental policies with other policy areas. It will promote policy coherence across these strategies and polices, with the objective of supporting more stable and predictable policy making to achieve the government’s policy goals effectively while minimising impacts on communities and business.

Purpose/ aim of action and desired effect

The Environment Strategy has a vision of 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.

The Strategy identifies a set of outcomes to support the delivery of this vision. Four outcomes describe our goals for tackling climate change and restoring the health of our natural environment, in Scotland and overseas:

• Scotland’s nature is protected and restored
• 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.

The Strategy also sets out two cross-cutting outcomes that explain how we will build Scotland’s resilience to the impacts of these global crises and support wider goals for 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, supporting climate and environmental justice and intergenerational equity.

The strategy presents pathways towards each of the outcomes of the strategy. These set out the existing policies in each area, and priorities for future policy development.

Options (considered so far/ still open)

Two options were considered during the development of the Environment Strategy:

• Option 1: The position taken in the Environment Strategy
• Option 2: Doing more and sooner”, this option would be more ambitious and aims to meet the aims much sooner than those set out in the draft strategy.

A ‘do nothing’ scenario was not considered, as the Environment Strategy was placed on a statutory basis by the Continuity Act 2021, with Section 47 requiring Scottish Ministers to prepare and publish an environmental policy strategy.

Sectors/ Groups affected

As a cross-cutting strategy, all sectors of the economy are potentially affected by the policies covered within the Environment Strategy and the policy priorities that are set out. The Strategy applies across Scotland and does not specifically target sections of society, but does benefit society as a whole, including businesses. However, we believe that there is likely to be an overall positive impact on all affected groups and sectors. There will be some short term impacts on businesses and individuals as policies reflecting the priorities in the Strategy are implemented and patterns of investment and behaviour have to adjust. It is important that policies are developed with early involvement business to identify and minimise these impacts. The Strategy contains proposals for enhanced working with business on the delivery of its priorities.

Some of the sectors that were identified in the consultation responses that could benefit from the Strategy include the renewable energy, restoration services, and community-based initiatives sectors. Others also suggested that businesses actively integrating biodiversity restoration or nature-based products might also benefit. A small number also highlighted advantages for early adopters of sustainability standards, particularly where alignment with EU markets could be demonstrated.

Some of the responses to the consultation suggested that there could be potential impacts from the Environment Strategy on sectors such as agriculture, fishing, tourism, and manufacturing. Some of the reasons highlighted in the response for these impacts included regulatory burdens, planning and permitting delays, market uncertainty and competitiveness risks, and infrastructure and logistics constraints.