Mr. Stewart Stevenson:

You would never know. I left 30 years of banking to come into politics to improve my reputation.

Let us be serious now. The point is that we do not know what we will be doing between 2040 and 2050. However, we know what outputs we require in the reduction of greenhouse gases. In our whole approach to policy in the Scottish Government, at least in the SNP, we have sought to move from prescribing inputs to prescribing outcomes that need to be achieved. We are clear on the point that it is the people closest to the problem or to an activity who will be able to devise the methods and actions that will deliver the output.

There is a genuine difficulty with this agenda, in that much of the outputs will come quite a long way down the line. Therefore, how can anyone, including government and the general public, know that the inputs being chosen locally will deliver the outputs required? We must, therefore, work backwards and work out what indicators will give a reasonable indication the programme is on track. For most outputs, there is no single set of inputs one can point to that will definitely deliver the outputs. There will be options and a number of them may well work, such as the individual farmer spending £10 on a whiteboard. Surprisingly, that was not a government idea, but the farmers' idea. It would be very nice if lots of other farmers bought whiteboards. The same is true with regard to a range of other options.

We are working very hard to try to ensure that knowledge and ideas are shared, because it is cheaper and more effective to copy someone who is a success than to fail through ignorance.