The UK’s climate watchdog has said that Scotland’s pledge to cut its climate emissions by 75% by 2030 is “no longer credible” and cannot be met.
In what has been described as a damning report which was submitted to the Scottish parliament, the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) accused the Scottish government of repeatedly failing to live up to its legally binding targets.
The CCC said that ministers still have no meaningful plans for hitting that target after failing to produce the climate change strategy due last year despite missing the annual emissions reductions required by law in eight of the last 12 years.
Its action and policies “continue to fall far short” of what was needed. Most sectors, such as housing, transport and farming, remained so far behind their interim targets “the acceleration required [to] meet the 2030 target is now beyond what is credible”.
Responding to the committee’s conclusions, Oxfam warned that the Scottish government’s credibility was “now firmly on the line” and Friends of the Earth Scotland accused ministers of “an embarrassing and abject failure”.
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Mike Robinson, who is the chair of the civic society umbrella group Stop Climate Chaos, said: “After declaring a climate emergency, the Scottish government has failed to deliver anything close to an emergency response, and must now redouble efforts.
“While every party in the Scottish parliament carries some blame, the Scottish government has lost its position as a climate leader and we would like to see the first minister make an emergency statement to parliament to set out his response.”
The CCC’s criticisms have been growing in intensity for some years. In the Scottish government, the Scottish National party shares power with the Scottish Greens after signing a cooperation agreement in 2021 that prioritised action on climate. Humza Yousaf, who succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as first minister and as SNP leader, has put less emphasis on climate action, despite its significance in the deal with the Greens.
With the SNP facing significant losses in the next general election, he has endorsed the oil industry’s position that heavier taxes to fund a transition to clean energy are unjustified, cut funding for forestry and watered down proposals to switch farming subsidies towards nature recovery.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
