Sustainable development in Scotland
For example, the proposed community purchase of the former RAF Machrihanish base was thwarted due to technical problems with the application despite 97.4% local support in a referendum.
This was followed by strategy that focussed on Waste, Energy and Travel in 2002 and Choosing our Future in 2005, which was written in association with the UK shared framework for sustainable development.
In 2007 the Scottish National Party took office in a minority government pursuing 5 strategic objectives that encompass sustainable development but do not specifically reference it.
In June 2007 John Swinney, the new Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in the Scottish Government, announced plans for a Climate Change Bill that would include an intention to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.
[13] In August 2007 the Scottish Government announced the creation of a Saltire Prize for innovation in industry, which will reward excellence in developing new renewable energy technologies.
The Climate Change Delivery Plan sets out what needs to be done to achieve emissions reductions to meet the statutory targets that are included in the Act.
[17] In January 2010 it emerged that SEPA, the government body responsible for protecting the environment had failed to reach its carbon emissions targets.
[22] In addition to planned increases in both large-scale generating capacity and microsystems using renewable sources, various related schemes to reduce carbon emissions are being researched.
[29] Scottish Power have also announced that they wished to reduce carbon emissions by using biomass products such as willow or cereals at Longannet and Cockenzie.
"[31] The issue was highlighted the following month when leaked Department of Trade and Industry documents indicated that, despite Scottish successes, under current policies Britain would miss the EU's 2020 target of 20% energy from renewables by a considerable margin.
Rob Gibson an MSP for the Highlands and Islands described the charges as "a tax on geography", and Elaine Hanton of HIE claimed the report raised "serious concerns".
[33][34] Discussions between the Scottish and Norwegian governments aimed at creating a sub-sea grid to take renewable energy from Scotland to the European mainland are planned for early 2008.
The scheme was expected to be in production by 2009 at a projected cost of $600 million, although it fell through as it failed to gain sufficient support from the UK government to enable this to occur.
"[37] "Tygh-Na-Cladach" (English: the house by the shore") in Dunoon is the UK's first "affordable" passivhaus, designed by Gokay Deveci of Robert Gordon University for Fyne Homes.
[41] In 2013 Baron Wallace of Tankerness sided with liquidators KPMG who are arguing UK insolvency law has precedence over Scottish environmental regulations.
Wallace's position, taken "on behalf of the UK Government" is that the liquidators have the power to abandon environmental clean-up costs after the company with the responsibility for them has gone bust.
KPMG estimates the liquidation of Scottish Coal will leave up to £30 million that would be paid to creditor Lloyds Bank rather go towards the restoration of disused mines in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire.
Capable of producing 20,000 tonnes per annum the operators hope to capitalise on the soaring price of compound fertilisers, which tripled in the previous 18 months.
In 2010 the government body that manages and promotes sustainable transport in Scotland announced that, despite a goal of reducing carbon emissions for travel by staff by 8% over a two-year period, that they had risen by 3%.
[44] In 2011 Caledonian MacBrayne announced they were developing engineering concept designs for the world's first sea going RORO passenger hybrid (battery/diesel-electric) ferry.
