The Environment Strategy for Scotland: Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)

Objectives

The Environment Strategy fulfils Ministers obligation under section 47 of the UK Withdrawal from the EU (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 to prepare and publish an environmental policy strategy, with section 47 also requiring Scottish Ministers to have due regard to the strategies when making policies, including proposals for legislation.

The Environment Strategy is an overarching framework for environmental policies and their interaction with other policies across government, and promotes a whole of government approach to tackling the climate, nature and pollution crises while promoting the sustainable prosperity of Scotland. The Strategy will guide future policy development and set a clear direction for making more of our opportunities. It will help us to take better decisions for Scotland’s future, and to use new powers and freedoms to advance the wellbeing of people in Scotland. The Strategy summarises the core elements of our environmental policies for regenerating nature, achieving net zero and protecting our environment and people from pollution.

Vision and outcomes

The Environment Strategy Vision and outcomes are a statement of our objectives for protecting and improving the environment. The Vision for the Strategy begins by describing our 2045 Vision for fulfilling our role in tackling the global crises of nature loss, climate change and pollution, helping to safeguard our shared planet for all life on Earth. The Vision also sets out how we will harness the enormous opportunities this creates for Scotland to flourish as a fairer, greener and more prosperous nation.

The Vision also recognises that tackling these crises relies on transformative changes in Scotland’s economy and society. This, in turn, can help to transform Scotland for the better – for example by supporting and enabling people and communities in Scotland to live sustainably – in ways that also tackle inequalities and poverty and create wider benefits for people’s health and wellbeing.

The Vision supports our broader ambitions for building a wellbeing economy that supports and promotes economic and social equality, and decarbonises our communities, and one that values the health and the happiness of its people, as much as their productivity.

The Strategy aims to improve the wellbeing of everyone in Scotland, including island communities. The aim of the Strategy is to ensure that everyone can enjoy the life-supporting benefits the environment provides. This includes improving people’s health and wellbeing, tackling poverty and inequalities, and supporting jobs and businesses in the transition to net zero by 2045. To achieve the Strategy’s Vision, a set of outcomes have been identified to support delivery of our 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 explains 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 for driving progress towards the outcomes and the vision. These pathways summarise key existing policies while also identifying proposals and priorities to guide future policy development across the breadth of government. The pathways are followed by a summary of arrangements for monitoring and reporting progress towards the outcomes, in order to guide improvements to our approach.

The Environment Strategy will sit alongside other existing high-level Scottish Government policy frameworks, including the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, the Climate Change Plan, Scotland’s Economic Strategy and the National Planning Framework. The Strategy is an overarching framework for environmental policies, and promotes a whole of government approach to tackling the climate, nature and pollution crises while promoting the sustainable prosperity of Scotland.