'Detail missing' on climate targets

Jan 29 2013

The Scottish Government has failed to provide details of how it will catch up on missed climate change targets in its latest set of proposals, according to a Green MSP.

It was revealed last October that carbon emissions targets for 2010 were not reached. This was attributed to more demand for energy for heating because of bad weather.

Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse has told Holyrood new measures will compensate for the missed target, as he outlined the Report on Proposals and Policies, aimed at meeting climate change ambitions up to 2027.

But he was attacked by Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie who called for more information. "There's lost ground to catch up on, which the minister acknowledges; something in the order of over a million tonnes of CO2-equivalent after failing to meet the first target," Mr Harvie said.

"Is it right, am I reading this document right, that those excess emissions are going to be compensated by some unspecified policies at some unspecified time between now and 2027? Should last year's failing result in action this year and the next?"

The minister was also criticised by Conservative MSP Alex Fergusson who accused him of "mischief-making" by inferring that progress is constrained by Westminster.

Mr Wheelhouse told MSPs: "Our Climate Change Act is still the most ambitious piece of climate change legislation anywhere in the world and unlike those for the UK, we have set statutory annual targets and they include emissions from international aviation and shipping. So let me repeat: the Scottish Government is fully committed to the greenhouse gas emission-reduction targets that the Act sets."

Addressing Mr Harvie's comments, Mr Wheelhouse said: "I would hope that the member will see when he has the chance to look at the detail of the report is that, over the period to 2027, we are more than compensating for these emissions."

The Scottish Government is spending £1.14 billion over the next three years on various measures to address climate change, Mr Wheelhouse said.

Ministers say they plan to cut pollution from electricity generation by more than four-fifths by 2030, deliver the equivalent of at least 100% of gross electricity consumption from renewables by 2020 and transform older and colder homes into energy-efficient ones.