Today the Scottish Government has confirmed that, if approved by the Scottish Parliament, it will set new carbon budget levels in line with recommendations by its advisors, the Climate Change Committee (CCC). Responding on behalf of Scotland’s climate coalition, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, Becky Kenton-Lake said:
“We welcome that the government intends to follow the budget levels proposed by the CCC, which clearly showed that the net zero target is deliverable, alongside a detailed route plan of how to reach it. This is a much needed step forward on our journey to net zero, which in recent years has been agonisingly slow, with emissions either rising or falling at levels far below what is needed. With scientists warning that we have three years left to act if we are to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees, we urgently need to move from setting legislation and targets to action to make Scotland greener, healthier and fairer.
“The forthcoming Climate Change Plan, due in September, will need to set out the actions that each sector will take to contribute to meeting the emissions reductions needed. Concerningly, today’s statement suggests agriculture and land use will not reduce emissions in line with the CCC’s recommendations, so the government must be clear how they will make the sums add up, and which sectors will make up for this and reduce emissions even further.
“There are several areas where we feel the government could and should be more ambitious, and must not rely on unproven technofixes instead of reducing demand for the most polluting activities.”