Could this be the Scottish Greens’ tuition fees moment?

Questions of power bedevil radical politics. Is entry into government the only way to force change? Do the opportunities of power sufficiently compensate for the trade-offs required to obtain it? Where is the line between compromise and co-option, between pragmatism and power for power’s sake?

The Scottish Greens are confronted with these questions in the wake of the Scottish Government’s decision to drop a key interim target towards achieving Net Zero. On Thursday, Màiri McAllan, Holyrood’s Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy, confirmed that the devolved administration would not manage to reduce emissions by 75 per cent by 2030. McAllan said the target, oft-touted by the SNP-led government, was now ‘out of reach’. However, she reiterated the government’s commitment to Net Zero by 2045.

The statement was an acknowledgement of the inevitable. In March, the Climate Change Committee said the Scottish Government’s emissions targets were ‘no longer credible’, adding: ‘It isn’t enough to set a target, the government must act.’