Extract from Scottish Parliament Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee Stage 1 consideration of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill

...With regard to the ways in which people transport themselves in rural areas, our analysis is that the introduction of electric vehicles will give those areas an advantage. Sweden is vast—it is 2,000km long and 600km at its widest—and it is sparsely populated in, for example, the north-west. If the gas station in an area closes down along with the school and the store, it is just not possible for people to stay there. However, everyone has those two holes in the wall that allow them to charge their electric vehicles, so the infrastructure is already there. In that sense, we believe that the rural areas will be the winners in the transition to electric cars. We will see whether that comes about, but at least it will mean that in, I think, five years, we will not need to have a discussion about whether this or that gas station can be closed or whether it will need to be subsidised by the Government...

...However, we can see what the benefits of no-regrets policies such as electrification are when 1,100 people die 12 years before they should because of air pollution. We will have cleaner, less noisy cities. When we have electric cars instead of fossil-fuelled cars, we will be able to construct buildings in areas where there is too much noise at the moment, which will make it possible to brighten up the cities. Land is very scarce in such central areas. There are many no-regrets policies that we can identify...

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