The Scottish government has pledged to raise its targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions if the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) can show how it can be achieved.
It has set a target to cut emissions by two thirds, compared to 1990 levels, by 2032 in its draft climate change bill.
Holyrood has asked the CCC for advice, along with the UK and Welsh governments, on reducing carbon emissions to ‘net zero’ by 2050 in line with the UN’s IPCC recent recommendation that a cut on this scale is required to keep global temperatures in check.
In a debate in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday (1 November), climate change secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “If advises that even more ambitious Scottish targets are now credible, we will adopt them.
“What has held us back until now is that the UK CCC has been unable to outline that credible pathway. In the absence of that, we felt that it would be unwise to draft the bill in any other way than we have at the moment, but we want to get there.
“If the newly commissioned advice comes forward with that credible pathway, we absolutely will adopt it and ensure that the bill reflects that.
“The Scottish government wants to achieve net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases as soon as possible. It is our intention to get there, and we will set a target date for that as soon as that can be done credibly and responsibly.”
During the debate, which was held to mark the publication earlier this week of the first annual monitoring report of the Scottish climate change framework, the minister also expressed deep concern over Westminster’s proposal in this week’s budget to replace the EU Emissions Trading System with a carbon tax if the UK is unable to conclude a Brexit deal.
She said that the introduction of the tax would shift accountability for a key plank of emissions reduction policy from Holyrood to Westminster which she described as “unacceptable” to the Scottish government.
However, Green party MSP Mark Ruskell criticised the Scottish government’s climate change target.
He said: “Scotland’s proposed target for 2030 sets the bar too low—it would need barely any extra action to be taken beyond what has already been discussed. If Scotland is to stand any chance of meeting a future net zero emissions target, the Scottish government must commit to more ambition on our next milestone target for 2030.”