Scotland on course to miss ‘ambitious’ emissions goals without policy shakeup, Climate Change Committee says. The Climate Change Committee, which advises the UK government, has said that Scotland’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions are “fantastic” but that the country is unlikely to achieve them. The Scottish government has set out a plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, which includes a 2030 target to reach a 75 per cent reduction from 1990s levels of emissions. The CCC’s chief executive Chris Stark said this interim target would be “very, very difficult to meet,” without a major policy shakeup over the next decade. While maintaining that Scotland could still hit its overall 2045 target, he said that policy makers must introduce “tough” new legislation in order to see more rapid change, rather than depending on positive incentives designed to encourage people and businesses to change their behaviour and reduce emissions. Giving evidence to the Scottish government’s Rural Economy Committee, Mr Stark said “the ambition from the Scottish Government is great” but he warned “there are still big gaps in how it would actually be delivered in practice”, The Herald reports.
Independent 22nd Jan 2021 read more »