A Holyrood Committee has welcomed Scotland’s ambition to tackle climate change but has called for greater urgency to stop global temperatures rising to dangerous levels. This is one of the recommendations in the Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee’s report on the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill. The Bill sets a target of a 90% reduction in all greenhouse gases by 2050 and allows for a target of 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (known as a net zero target) from the baseline to be created at a future date. It also introduces more challenging interim targets, including a 66% drop by 2030 rising to 78% by 2040.
Scottish Parliament 4th March 2019 read more »
A net-zero target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is “necessary” in Scotland’s Climate Change Bill to limit global temperature rises, according to MSPs. The bill has been criticised by environmentalists for not setting a firm date for this goal. It proposes cutting them by 90% by 2050 and setting a net-zero target when a “clear pathway” exists to achieve it. Holyrood’s environment committee said a “greater urgency of action” was needed. It said ministers should review the targets based on fresh advice requested from the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC). That advice is expected in May. The bill was drafted before the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) issued its stark warning on the impact of global warming. The IPCC said the world needed to make “rapid, far reaching and unprecedented” changes if temperature rises were to be limited to 1.5C.
BBC 4th March 2019 read more »
