2 weeks Ago By David Bol
SNP ministers have come under fire for sneaking out a lacklustre dossier of climate action needed to get progress back on track amid fears there is an "appalling lack of ambition" from the Scottish Government after “years of inaction and delay”. Campaigners have warned the legal blueprint to get progress back on track is “simply recycling the weak package of climate policies” already announced by ministers. READ MORE: How the SNP aims to finally woo oil and gas sector with 'pragmatic' green industrial strategy The row emerges as the Scottish Government attempts to water down its climate ambition by scrapping its pledge to cut emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and replace legal targets with carbon budgets.
The Scottish Government has confirmed to The Scotsman the first three of its five-year carbon budgets will be set by 2026 - plotting cuts to emissions up to 2040. SNP ministers were required to publish a strategy to get progress back on track after it failed to hit its annual emissions targets for 2021 and 2022. But the Scottish Government’s blueprint is merely a list of policies announced back in April.
The list includes 24,000 extra electric vehicle charging points by 2030 and another promise to develop an integrated public transport ticketing system. Campaigners are fearful the message John Swinney has sent out since taking office is a weakening of action to tackle the climate crisis and a lack or urgency to get progress back on track. Those fears have been amplified in the aftermath of Petroineos’s confirmation it will close Scotland’s only oil refinery at Grangemouth, axing 400 jobs and threatening thousands more.
Concerns have emerged about the lack of just transition planning as part of the move away from fossil fuels - crucial in any serious strategy to reach net zero. But new figures show that between 2021 and 2022, Scotland was the only nation in the UK to see a fall in the number of jobs in the low carbon and renewable energy economy. Despite a previous SNP pledge to create 130,000 green jobs in Scotland by 2020, the latest statistics show the number has dropped to just 25,700.
Scottish Labour net zero spokesperson Sarah Boyack said “at a time when Scotland is dealing with economic stagnation and a climate emergency”, the “betrayal is unforgivable”. Friends of the Earth Scotland just transition campaigner Rosie Hampton said: “The shameful record of cuts and backsliding on climate action we’ve witnessed in recent months under John Swinney and Kate Forbes show that this Government is not serious about getting back on track. "The need for an urgent and fair transition away from fossil fuels cannot be overstated, yet ministers are guilty of slowing progress, defunding programmes and abdicating their responsibility to people on the front line of climate breakdown.
” She added: “This week we have seen this appalling lack of ambition replicated in the failure to develop the crucial transition planning needed by oil and gas workers and their communities. “Climate failure ultimately cost Humza Yousaf his job, but it seems like the current First Minister has learned nothing from that sorry episode.” Becky Kenton-Lake, coalition manager for Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, added: “By simply recycling the weak package of climate policies announced in April, this report has done absolutely nothing to reassure us that the Scottish Government is taking the necessary steps to ramp up action in response to yet another missed climate target.
“Alongside this, the process to reopen and weaken Scotland's climate legislation is now underway due to years of inaction and delay, so they should be redoubling efforts to reduce emissions in order to rebuild severely damaged trust.” The lack of climate action has irritated the Scottish Greens, who were dumped out of government by Humza Yousaf, with Mr Swinney making an apparent move to further distance the SNP from the pro-climate policies included in the Bute House Agreement. Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: "The decisions we make about our climate strategy today are some of the most important that this Parliament will ever make, but the Scottish Government is refusing to take the action that is required.
” He added: "Instead they are cutting climate budgets, cozying up to the fossil fuel industry and crossing their fingers hoping it will be OK. "The announcement from Grangemouth underlines the need to accelerate our green transition and ensure that we are protecting communities and workers and building a greener Scotland for the future." The First Minister has insisted he is taking the climate crisis seriously, making the issue one of his top four priorities.
He said the Scottish Government had “made formidable progress” on the decarbonisation of electricity. Mr Swinney added: “The Programme for Government includes material about the restoration of 10,000 hectares of degraded peatland and the creation of 10,000 hectares of woodlands. “A variety of other measures in the Programme for Government also support our work on climate change.
” The Scotsman can also reveal the Scottish Government will bring forward its first three five-year carbon budgets in one go once SNP ministers have passed its controversial legislation axing legal climate targets. Ministers have published plans to replace its targets with five-year carbon budgets that would limit the amount of emissions produced over a five-year period. But the first three carbon budgets, from 2026 to 2030, 2030 to 2035 and 2035 to 2040 will all be drawn up from the beginning.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Climate Change Bill requires that ministers must set carbon budgets so that every year between 2026 and 2045, the net zero target year, is covered by a budget. “The latest independent advice from the Climate Change Committee is expected in spring next year. Once that advice has been received, the Scottish Government intends to bring forward regulations which will set at least the first three budgets, covering the periods up to 2040 – to align with the period covered by the next climate change plan.
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