The SNP government has no clear plan to deliver its emissions targets - which are in danger of becoming “meaningless” - a scathing report by independent experts found. Scottish ministers have overseen a “trend of failure” in meeting Scotland’s climate goals and the country no longer leads the UK in the Net Zero push, the Climate Change Committee said.
The expert body acknowledged Nicola Sturgeon’s government has established “bold” targets more ambitious than many other countries, such as cutting emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and becoming carbon-neutral by 2045. But it warned there was no “clear delivery plan” and no “coherent explanation” for how Scotland it will reach its eco aims.
The committee added: “Scotland’s climate targets are in danger of becoming meaningless.” It went on: “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.”
The CCC warned of “glaring gaps” in the Scottish Government’s climate plan - with “particular concerns about the achievement of the 2030 goal to cut emissions by 75 per cent”. The independent body - which advises governments in the UK and tracks their progress in cutting emissions - said Scotland had missed its targets in cutting greenhouse gas emissions in seven years out of the last 11.
It added: "The trend of failure will continue without urgent and strong action to deliver emissions reductions, starting now." In their latest progress report, the CCC said Scotland was “still not delivering on key milestones" such as around home energy efficiency and restoring peatlands.
And it said, while the Scottish plan to end sales of diesel and petrol cars by 2030 was bolder than the rest of the UK’s, sales of electric vehicles were actually "lower than the UK as a whole" and "off track". Environmental groups seized on the report, with Friends of the Earth Scotland branding it a “scathing judgement”.
The charity’s head of campaigns Mary Church added: “With the impacts of climate breakdown wreaking havoc the world over at only 1°C warming this is literally a matter of life or death. The Scottish Government must urgently scale up its plans to cut climate pollution within the next decade.”
Fabrice Leveque, Climate Change Lead at WWF Scotland said: “This report doesn’t pull its punches and sets out in clear terms what the Scottish Government must now do to meet its emission targets. This includes urgent, ambitious new efforts to transform how we heat our homes, and new policies to reduce farming emissions - without this, the mantle of ‘climate leader’ is in jeopardy.”
And Mike Robinson, chair of the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition, said the paper should serve as "a loud and clear wake up call" for ministers. Emissions fell by 12 per cent between 2019 and 2020 - but this was largely due to the impact of pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions, with the figure set to rebound in 2021.
In their annual report last year, the CCC urged the Holyrood government to turn their “great promises” on emissions into a clearer plan. Commenting as this year’s report was published, Lord Deben, chairman of the CCC, said: “One year ago, I called for more clarity and transparency on Scottish climate policy and delivery. That plea remains unanswered.”
Colin Smyth, Scottish Labour's net zero spokesman, hit out: “This damning report leaves the SNP-Green government’s empty rhetoric in tatters.” Scottish Tory net zero spokesman Liam Kerr said: “As usual the SNP-Green coalition are all talk and no delivery, by completely failing to implement the measures that might achieve the targets.”
Scotland’s net zero secretary Michael Matheson said: “We fully acknowledge it will require truly transformational action across our society and economy, driven by government, as part of a national effort to tackle the climate emergency. Progress has been made – Scotland is already more than half way to net zero – but we are now entering the most challenging part of the journey to date.”
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