The Environment Strategy for Scotland: Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA)

Executive summary

The Scottish Government is mindful of its obligation under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012. Section 5 places a requirement on public authorities to assess the impact of applying a proposed new or revised policy or practice. The Public Sector Equality Duty also requires listed public authorities to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; advance equality of opportunity; and foster good relations between persons who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. This EQIA has been undertaken to consider the impact of the Environment Strategy on equality.

The aim of the Environment Strategy is to create an integrated framework for Scotland’s environment policies; and to support a stronger whole-of-government approach to playing Scotland’s role in tackling the global nature, climate and pollution crises. It builds on the Scottish Government’s existing policies by outlining new priorities and proposals. These focus on the opportunities for supporting the economic and societal changes needed to help tackle these global crises in ways that create wider benefits for Scotland – supporting green jobs and industries, improving people’s health, tackling poverty and promoting social justice. The Strategy sets out steps for supporting and enabling these changes in ways that will transform our country for the better, improving the lives of people across Scotland. The Strategy is designed to capture the wealth of opportunities that transitioning to a green economy, and shifting towards sustainable lifestyles, will create for Scotland’s prosperity and wellbeing.

As mentioned, the Environment Strategy aims to improve the wellbeing of everyone in Scotland and ensures people can enjoy the life-supporting benefits the environment provides. This includes increasing access to greenspaces and improving air quality, which will create significant health benefits and help to tackle inequalities.

As part of the EQIA process, the Scottish Government considered the potential impacts of the priorities and proposals in the Environment Strategy on people with protected characteristics. The EQIA has concluded that the Strategy and its priorities and proposals will have a positive, direct impact on all individuals, including those persons with protected characteristics. However, there will be greater benefits to the protected characteristics of age (younger people and older people), people with disabilities, women in pregnancy and maternity, gender (women), religion and belief,

gender reassignment, sexual orientation and race. At the same time, it is important that we manage and mitigate any unintended consequences in the development of the priorities and proposals.

We recommend that during the implementation of the priorities and proposals to support the Environment Strategy, inclusive engagement and further Equality Impact Assessments are completed or consideration is given to the protected characteristics and how these are integrated into the governance structure, which will be responsible for the delivery of the Strategy’s proposals and priorities. These impact assessments will be important to ensure that there are no unintended consequences from the Environment Strategy on people with protected characteristics.