Mr. Stewart Stevenson:

It is perhaps worth saying at the outset that the targets we have, which are a 42% reduction by 2020 on a 1990 baseline and an 80% reduction by 2050, were very significantly urged upon us by the business community and not by the environmental community. One of the great advantages we had in Scotland was that we were able to build a political coalition of interest. Every Member of the Scottish Parliament voted for this Bill. We were a minority Government at the time we took this through, with 47 Members on the government benches and 82 Members on the opposition benches. Therefore, when one legislates, one does with consent on this. There were hundreds of amendments at various Stages of the Bill which created complexities for the Minister.

However, much more significant was the building of a coalition of interest in wider Scotland. The eco congregations, which drew together people of faith, were promoting robust action and legislative targets on the Government, as were energy companies, banks and insurance companies. The 42% came from the chief executive of Scottish and Southern Energy who, at a lunch he had organised, handed me a book called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. If members remember that book, they will know that a billion years of computation or something of that order leads to the answer to the ultimate question which is 42. That is why he gave me the book to say it would be a 42% target.

Incidentally, the business community continues to be climate leaders through the 2020 group. It can, quite usefully, explore political areas which are too difficult for us elected representatives to take the lead in.