SNP ministers have been told to lead by example on tackling the climate crisis after admitting that more than £4 million of public cash has been spent on energy-guzzling electronic billboards.
The Scottish Government has revealed that a total of 181 weeks of advertising over the last five years has taken place on electron billboards, including almost £275,000 splashed on net zero and green messaging, despite fears over the amount of electricity needed to power the billboards.
For two and a half weeks, £388,000 was also spend promoting Glasgow hosting the COP26 global climate summit, despite the electricity-intensive method to get the SNP Government’s message across to the public.
A study published last month found that electronic billboards used in Manchester were each using more than 11,000kWh of electricity a year – more than the average consumption of three households.
The majority of the Scottish Government’s electronic billboard use over since 2017 has been for public health messaging relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, with almost £3 million of public funding spent.
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Scottish Conservative net zero spokesperson, Liam Kerr, asked SNP ministers to reveal “how much money it has spent on campaigns that are advertised on public electronic advertising boards! Over the last five year.
In response, SNP Finance and Economy Secretary, Kate Forbes, said: “Over the last five years the Scottish Government has spent £4,122,329 on public outdoor digital advertising in Scotland with public health campaigns and Covid-19 activity utilising the majority of this space.
“There has been a total of 181 weeks of advertising over the last five years, which are broken down as follows across the category of campaign.”
Ms Forbes said the figures “do not include occasions when the Scottish Government has been offered the use of outdoor advertising space at no cost”.
She said: “For example, during the Coronavirus pandemic the Scottish Government has provided advertising materials to football clubs to be used on their pitch side advertising to support the promotion of important public health messages.”
The Finance Secretary said that “outdoor advertising plays a pivotal role in ensuring that key public information can be effectively communicated to people in Scotland, especially when run in collaboration with other media" such as television, digital and radio”.
She added: “Outdoor advertising can support the delivery of communications that need to target specific geographical locations.
“Digital outdoor advertising has the benefit over non-digital sites in that creative can have more visual impact than static poster sites, especially during non-daylight hours. There is also reduced lead time for production, which means messaging can be quickly updated or removed when required.”
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Conservative net zero spokesperson, Liam Kerr, said: “The SNP-Green coalition are quick to lecture others about doing their bit for the environment, so the least people will expect is for them to publicise their own messages on the subject in a responsible manner.
“These advertising boards are hardly environmentally friendly and will do nothing to help them meet their climate-change targets – but they will infuriate taxpayers who are fed up being dictated to by an SNP Government who should be leading by example.
“Nicola Sturgeon was happy to schmooze and showboat at COP26 but the reality is her Government’s self-congratulatory talk masks a continual failure to meet its own environmental targets.”
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