‘Nothing in place to guide the short term’
Climate change experts have said they are “dubious” about whether the Scottish Government will be able to hit another key environmental target by the end of this decade.
Chris Stark, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, warned it will be “extraordinarily difficult” for ministers to achieve the goal of reducing the number of kilometres travelled by car by 20 per cent by 2030.
He issued the warning just days after Holyrood’s Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan announced the Scottish Government was abandoning its target to reduce emissions by 75 per cent by 2030.
While Ms McAllan has pledged to publish a plan later this year setting out how the car use reduction can be achieved, Mr Stark said: “I am dubious about any plan to be successful in delivering the 20 per cent reduction, and the reason I say that is because the requirements are pretty big to pull that off.”
Giving evidence to MSPs on Holyrood’s Net Zero Committee, Mr Stark said to hit the target the Scottish Government will need to have the same impact that was achieved in the first year after London introduced the congestion charge – for every year between now and 2030.
Adding that the more rural nature of parts of Scotland can mean people having to make longer journeys, Mr Stark praised the Scottish Government for retaining the ambition to reach net zero by 2045, but he warned: “Not having something to guide the short term concerns me.”
He added: “We have a 2045 net zero target in law, but we have nothing much beyond that for the next few months.
“Therefore we need to look to the strength of the policies the Scottish Government brings in the next 12 months to this Parliament as a test of how serious the Scottish Government really is now of its climate credentials.”