Labour plans to amend new climate change legislation at the Scottish Parliament, including looking at writing in a fracking ban. The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill will face its first parliamentary hurdle at a Stage 1 debate at Holyrood on Tuesday. The Bill would update laws to increase the greenhouse gas reduction target from the current 80% to 90% by 2050. It would also introduce tougher interim targets of 56% for 2020 and 66% for 2030. Labour plan to lodge several amendments to the Bill, including looking at whether a fracking ban can be written into the legislation. The move follows the Scottish Government recently announcing its third public consultation on the use of the unconventional oil and gas extraction technique. “Scotland has the power to ban fracking and Labour is examining the best way to do so, either through the Climate Change Bill or my member’s bill, after the SNP kicked the issue into the long grass with yet another talking shop.” A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Our Climate Change Bill sets the world’s most ambitious targets for 2020, 2030, 2040 and will mean Scotland is carbon-neutral by 2050. These targets were described as ‘the limit of feasibility’ by our independent, statutory advisers the UK Committee on Climate Change. “We have asked the Committee on Climate Change for further advice, along with the UK and Welsh Governments, and that advice is due on 2 May. If the advice says that it is now credible to set a net-zero target date then we will.”
Herald 30th March 2019 read more »
