Scotland’s SNP-Green Government delays climate plan
The draft Climate Change Plan was set to be published this week, triggering a review from the Climate Change Committee.
This week, Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan told Scottish Parliament that the publication would now be delayed, laying the blame partly on successive decisions by the UK Government to roll back several environmental policies.
This includes a postponement to the deadline for sales of new gas boilers, alongside the announcement that new petrol and diesel cars would now be available until 2035, rather than 2030 as originally planned. McAllan also pointed to Scotland’s strong track record on climate targets and emissions reductions to date, claiming national carbon output was already ‘halfway to net zero’. However, several leading voices in climate fields have criticised the decision to delay.
‘We agreed to push back @theCCCUK annual Scottish Progress Report to review the Scottish Government’s new climate plan – due at the end of this year,’ Chris Stark, Chief Executive at the independent Climate Change Committee, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. ‘Now it seems we’ll have nothing to review… Not sure why the PM’s September speech on Net Zero would require delay by the Scottish Government.’
Stark pointed to a recent analysis of what announcements from Downing Street, and concluded that the most significant changes to policy impacted England. Meanwhile, yesterday’s King’s speech, opening the new Westminster parliamentary session, has caused renewed outrage over plans to continue exploring new oil and gas prospects in the North Sea, but did not contain anything that should effect when Scotland’s Climate Change Plan is made public.
More on Scotland:
100 year, 18,500 acre Scottish rewilding project looks for partners
Image: Reinhold Möller