Net Zero Assessment: Pilot report

7. Resourcing

50. During the pilot, the key roles identified as required to deliver the NZA process were policy development skills and analytical support, along with a requirement for guidance, oversight and co-ordination.

51. The overarching approach in other countries is for policy teams to lead their assessments with a central team reviewing the outputs – this “mainstreaming” approach is a similar process settled on for the Scottish NZA pilot.

52. There are, however, a range of delivery arrangements that can be considered, from the mainstreamed approach through to a fully centralised approach delivered by a specialist team, or a mixture of these two approaches. Other impact assessments across the SG are managed on a mainstreamed approach, or sometimes a mixed approach model with more technical expertise provided by a central team.

53. The pilot has identified a number of potential options to deliver the best possible assessment within different resource scenarios, and the SG is considering which option to use for the rollout. A combination of approaches could be applied depending on how the output from the assessment is to be used:

a. Self assessment – By developing a set of guidance and tools policy teams can engage in their own NZA and determine what stage of assessment they require.

b. Self referral – Policy teams review their own policy and refer themselves to a central team where they believe there is a potential for emissions impact for additional guidance.

c. Central engagement – A central team engages with policy teams to help guide them through the process and provide additional input into the analysis.

d. Central oversight – A central team keeps an active oversight on all policies in development and uses active engagement to incentivise completion of NZA to adequate standards for reporting.

54. As part of the development of these scenarios there will be a requirement to develop new material and seek buy-in for the proposed processes.