The hubris of Scotland’s lofty Net Zero targets

Scotland’s climate goals are ‘no longer credible’ and there is ‘no comprehensive strategy’ to move away from carbon to Net Zero. That is the noxious assessment issued today by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), the statutory body set up in Scotland to advise national and regional government on emissions policies. Underscoring the gap between rhetoric heard and action seen, the committee delivers an almighty verbal skelping to the SNP and its carefully cultivated image as a green government.

Under the SNP’s Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, ‘the Scottish ministers must ensure that the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2030 is at least 75 per cent lower than the baseline’. The CCC says that ongoing delays to the Scottish government’s climate change plan and ‘further slippage in promised climate policies’ make it unlikely this statutory target will be met. The updated plan was due to be published in November but Holyrood’s Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan said she needed more time.

As a result, the committee says, there has been ‘a significant period without sufficient actions or policies to reach the target’ but ‘the required acceleration in emissions reduction in Scotland is now beyond what is credible’.