Scotland ‘on track’ to hit emissions target

SCOTLAND is “punching above its weight” in the fight against climate change, Environment Minister Aileen McLeod said as a new report showed how reusing and repairing more products could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Scottish Government has failed to meet its emissions targets for four years in a row but Ms McLeod insisted the country was on track to cut these by 42 per cent before the 2020 target.

Reusing, repairing and remanufacturing products and materials could cut emissions by up to 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) by 2050, a new report from Zero Wa s t e Scotland has concluded.

That would be the equivalent of reducing return journeys between Edinburgh and Glasgow on the busy M8 by almost 275 million.

Ms McLeod, who is attending the European Union Environment Council in Luxembourg, said: “Scotland is already recognised interna tionally as a leader in tackling climate change and this report is further proof of how we are punching above our weight on the world stage.

“Scotland’s target of a 42 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 is the most ambitious in the world and we are on track to meet this ahead of schedule.”

Ms McLeod added: “This report underlines the need to bring an end to our throwaway society.

“We can all take simple steps to do this, for example by reusing carrier bags, hiring clothes for a special event or repairing broken toys instead of buying new ones.”

Ms McLeod called on other countries to follow Scotland’s lead by “striving for the highest global ambition to t ackle climate change”.

She said this would be essential if a new international treaty on climate change, due to be signed in Paris in December, is to “stand a good chance of limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius”.