The Climate Change Committee has said that the Scottish Government lacks a clear delivery plan and has not offered a coherent explanation for how its policies will achieve Scotland’s bold emissions reduction targets.
In recent years, the Scottish Parliament has committed to decarbonise the country’s economy. The CCC noted that while that ambition should be applauded, it is only laudable if the targets are achieved.
Its latest assessment found that between 2019 and 2020 emissions fell by 12% – half of 1990 levels for the first time. But the fall in 2020 is only a temporary effect, largely due to travel restrictions in the pandemic.
Evidence from across the UK is that Scottish emissions will rebound in 2021. Underlying progress in reducing emissions in Scotland has largely stalled in recent years.
Since the Scottish Climate Change Act became law in 2009, the Scottish Government has failed to achieve seven of the eleven legal targets.
Scotland’s lead in decarbonising over the rest of the UK has now been lost. Progress is now broadly the same as the UK as a whole.
Two years after the publication of the Climate Change Plan update, the CCC warned that it did not see evidence of sufficient action to meet the Scottish Parliament’s ambition.
There are now glaring gaps in the Scottish Government’s climate plan and particular concerns about the achievement of the 2030 goal to cut emissions by 75%.
The group said that closer cooperation with the UK Government is required in other areas, particularly to guide the decarbonisation of Scottish industry and develop new industries to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
There is little evidence of cooperative policy planning, which is now undermining the achievement of Scotland’s more ambitious short-term goals.
Furthermore, better collaboration is also required between Scottish Government and local authorities. Many local authorities have declared climate emergencies and named ambitious Net Zero goals, but they need better support from Scottish Government, not least in securing the funding to drive policy.
Lord Deben, Chairman of the Climate Change Committee said: “In 2019, the Scottish Parliament committed the country to some of the most stretching climate goals in the world, but they are increasingly at risk without real progress towards the milestones that Scottish Ministers have previously laid out. One year ago, I called for more clarity and transparency on Scottish climate policy and delivery. That plea remains unanswered.”