Climate change action plan now delayed until end of the year

The Scottish Government will not produce its updated climate change action plan until the end of this year, the environment secretary has said.

Roseanna Cunningham had already announced the document – which was due to be published today – would have to be delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

She has now confirmed to MSPS on Holyrood’s environment committee she intends to produce it “towards the end of this year”.

Climate change legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament last year committed ministers to meeting tougher targets on reducing emissions.

The Climate Change Act set the goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 75% by 2030 and committed Scotland to reaching net-zero emissions by 2045. The plan was needed to set out what measures would be needed for Scotland to achieve these goals.

Ms Cunningham said: “I know this is not where any of us expected to be, goodness knows we could hardly have envisaged the scenario we are now having to work in and the speed with which things change, the uncertainty around that.

“I and the government remain committed to Scotland’s world-leading climate change targets.”

But she added the deadline for producing the climate change plan update for the end of April, six months after the legislation was passed, is “no longer feasible nor appropriate given the challenges we are currently facing”.

She said there will need to be “a bit of time to ensure the policies and proposals that we do put forward will reflect the new economic and social realities post-pandemic”.