EDINBURGH, Scotland, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The Scottish government has set up a task force to help move the country closer to its 2020 goal of 100 percent electricity from renewable energy.
Scotland has pushed aggressively to develop wind, marine and hydropower in an effort to get all of its electricity needs from renewable energy resources by the end of the decade.
"We need to ensure that companies who want to invest in our renewable energy industry and build the projects that would deliver the target can do so efficiently and quickly," Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said.
"My task force aims to help streamline this process and help offshore renewable energy developers produce sympathetic and well-conceived applications."
His comments follow a plan developed by the United Nations that outlines steps toward ocean and coastal sustainability.
The plan calls for governments to do more to create mechanisms that will protect oceans and coastal areas from environmental damage and overfishing.
The U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization notes that, while oceans make up 70 percent of the Earth's surface, only 1 percent of that is protected.