Political parties will focus on how they will tackle climate change as campaigning for May’s Holyrood election continues. Candidates from the five main parties will be grilled on their environmental policies in a debate in Edinburgh hosted by the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition. Climate change will also be on the agenda at the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) annual gathering in Dundee, where trade unions will call for strong action and support for workers affected by a switch to a low-carbon economy. The SNP will launch its manifesto on Wednesday with a pledge to raise Scotland’s 2020 climate target from the current 42% cut in carbon emissions to more than 50%. Opposition parties have highlighted that the current target has been missed in each of the last four years. Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said her party would ban frack ing, cancel SNP plans to cut air passenger duty and introduce legislation to tackle fuel poverty by toughening up energy and insulation standards.
Scotsman 18th April 2016 read more »
Energy Voice 18th April 2016 read more »
BBC 17th April 2016 read more »
From September, the Assessment of Energy Performance of Non-Domestic Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2016 will come in to force. This imposes a duty on the owner of a “building unit”, after obtaining an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), to carry out a further energy performance assessment. This will identify a target to improve the energy performance of the property, and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. An agreed action plan will outline steps to carry out any improvements. The improvements specified in this action plan must be carried out within 42 months of the date on which it is issued. However, the owner may choose to defer carrying out the works by instead arranging to record and report on the energy consumption and emissions via a display energy certificate on an annual basis.
Scotsman 18th April 2016 read more »
The SNP manifesto will this week announce that a re-elected SNP Government will bring forward a new Climate Change Bill which will raise Scotland’s 2020 climate target from the current 42% cut in carbon emissions by 2020, to a new target to reduce emissions by more than 50% by 2020.
Scottish Energy News 18th April 2016 read more »