2 weeks Ago By David Bol
Not long ago, the Scottish Government used to shout from the rafters about its climate credentials. Now it is poised to cower under the table. It is fair to say that some SNP ministers have bitten off more than they can chew over how well a devolved government can do in reaching net zero.
This ramped up ahead of COP26 when world leaders descended on the River Clyde to thrash out the Glasgow Agreement that in reality has only stood for warm words backed up with no action. Nicola Sturgeon proudly shouted about how well Scotland was doing. To be fair, a devolved government without the financial and regulatory ability to bring forward action, aimed high and did catch the attention of the world.
Read more: The 'lacklustre' Scottish Government climate change dossier branded an 'appalling lack of ambition' This continued the next year when the Scottish Government genuinely deserved credit for putting a loss and damage fund, essentially climate reparations, on the global agenda. But nothing illustrates the Scottish Government failing to live up to its promises than its climate emissions progress. MSPs have now been forced to water down those targets after it became clear that they were not going to be met.
Holyrood had pledged to cut 1990 levels of carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 - but progress has flown off track. The Climate Change Committee (CCC), the government’s independent advisers, warned this high bar should never have been set in the first place. Instead, Scotland will move to five-year carbon budgets.
Read more: How the SNP Government will get Scotland’s stuttering climate progress back on track The magnitude of the carbon budgets will not be known until next year after the CCC gives advice on what they should be. But in an alarming warning shot, the CCC last week said that the UK as a whole should reduce emissions by 81 per cent by 2035. This very-much gives an indication that the CCC’s advice for Scotland will not be a walk in the park.
On Monday, global leaders will arrive in Baku for COP29 as nations are put under pressure to draw up new plans to keep global action alive. The Scottish Government has been proud to take part on the global stage, not just when COP26 took place in Glasgow. But this year is different.
As of last night, details of who will represent Scotland are yet to be confirmed or announced. It starts on Monday. Acting SNP net zero secretary Gillian Martin, to her credit, has been blunt and honest about where progress goes from here.
Ms Martin admitted that “it’s not enough to set targets”, adding: “You have to be working together on the action required. “That’s a lot more difficult than what we’ve done today.” She also acknowledged that “some of the things that are options to reach net zero” will be “challenging and difficult”.
Read more: SNP green energy spending cuts puts 'significant numbers' of jobs at risk Ms Martin is not wrong. The Scottish Government will need, at some point, to have a proper discussion with the public about charging people to use roads, cutting domestic aviation and about what we eat. Many parts of the jigsaw are still missing.
There is no climate change plan - the blueprint that will plot a course to net zero. Other key polices including the elusive and long-delayed energy strategy are still absent. Putting off these decisions any further will make the road to net zero in the years to come, even harder than it already is.
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