First Minister Humza Yousaf has confirmed that the Scottish Government’s formal clean energy cooperation agreement with the Scottish Green Party has ended.
Yesterday (April 25), Yousaf met Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. Following a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet, the First Minister formally informed them of the end of the Bute House Agreement and their tenure as ministers, with immediate effect.
In response, Harvie and Slater confirmed in a press conference that they plan to back a no-confidence motion against Humza Yousaf.
This decision closely follows Scottish net zero minister Mairi McAllan’s announcement last week that ministers will not reach their 2030 emissions target.
McAllan told the Scottish Parliament that the flagship target of a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is out of reach and will be scrapped. It will be replaced with a system measuring emissions every five years.
Despite accepting that the 2030 target is out of reach, McAllan insisted that the target to meet net zero by 2045 will “steadfastly” remain.
Bute House Agreement’s short-lived history
Established in August 2021, the Bute House Agreement was set up by then first minister Nicola Sturgeon with the Scottish Green Party to work together over the following five years and build a green economic recovery from COVID.
The draft cooperation agreement set out how the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party will work together, including nominating two Green MSPs to be Scottish Government Ministers.
On the first anniversary of the agreement, in August 2022, new funding was announced to cut carbon emissions in homes and commercial properties.
More specifically, Sturgeon and Harvie unveiled £16.2 million in funding for five zero-emission heat networks during a visit to ng Homes in Glasgow.
This funding package’s recipients included The Halo Kilmarnock (£1.3 million), City of Edinburgh Council (£4.1 million), Peel NRE Developments (£5.1 million), LAR Housing Trust (£128,000), and Aberdeen City Council (£5.6 million).
In its first year, the agreement delivered a range of benefits for households, communities, and businesses and began work on several longer-term reforms.
This included setting out a strategy for over a million homes to use zero-carbon heating systems by the end of the decade and allocated funds from a total planned investment of £1.8 billion to cut energy bills, improve building energy efficiency, and reduce climate emissions.
To mark the second anniversary in August 2023, energy secretary Neil Gray and Harvie officially opened the Greengairs East wind farm in North Lanarkshire.
Real-life impact
The majority of projects and funding established through the Bute House Agreement were focused on the residential sector. So, it’s worth noting that small-scale solar installations in Scotland increased by 174% in 2023 compared to 2020, according to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).
In total, nearly 26,000 solar panels were installed in Scotland in 2023, which is the most ever recorded by the certification scheme and a 174% increase from just over 9,000 installed in 2020.
With over 200,000 installations, the MCS revealed that as of 2023, nearly one in ten (8.23%) Scottish households have MCS-certified renewable energy technologies in their homes.
It is currently unclear what the ramifications of the agreement’s dissolution will be for the country’s renewable energy sector going forward.
Politically, it is causing quite a stir as it has left Yousaf facing a “no confidence” vote, which, with enough MSPs’ support, could lead to his resignation. However, government officials have not yet explored the practical effect on Scotland’s ability to transition to clean energy.
