Heat and transport need ‘urgent attention’ for Scotland to meet emissions targets

Heat and transport need “urgent attention” if Scotland is to meet its emissions targets post 2020, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has warned.

Whilst greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by an average of 3.3 per cent each year since 2009, the committee said this was mainly due to progress in the power sector, which has seen a reduction in coal capacity and a rapid expansion of renewables.

Scotland met its yearly emissions target for the first time in 2014, according to the CCC’s fifth annual progress report. Net emissions fell by 13 per cent year-on-year to the equivalent of just under 41.9 million tonnes of CO2 – 5.1 million tonnes below the target level. They were 45.8 per cent lower than in 1990, meaning Scotland has now exceeded its target to cut emissions by 42 per cent by 2020, six years ahead of schedule.

However, the large decrease in 2014 was mainly due to “a fall Scotland’s share of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and warmer than average winter temperatures reducing the demand for heating”. Without these effects taken into account, Scotland still would have beaten the target for 2014, but by the equivalent of just 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The committee said Scotland has made “good progress” in a number of areas and “is often leading the UK”. Since 1990, gross emissions – the actual emission across the nation’s territory – have dropped by nearly 40 per cent, compared to 33 per cent across Britain.

Nevertheless, if Scotland is to stick to “tighter targets” beyond 2020, then “much more will be required”. There has been “little progress” in reducing emissions from transport and agriculture, and there is “much further to go for renewable heat uptake”, according to the CCC.

In order to keep Scotland on the lowest cost path to meeting its target, it said the Scottish government should ensure its policy objectives are “specific, outcome-focused and measurable”. It should focus on the “the core set of policies and actions that will have the biggest impact”, particularly in the realms of heating and transport, and should take into account the “wider benefits as well as the costs of climate change actions”.

CCC chairman Lord Deben said: “Scotland continues to lead the UK both in performance and ambition when it comes to tackling climate change. Emissions are reducing and the latest targets have been hit.

“Scotland has set out its intention to meet the challenges of climate change and its contribution to the ambition agreed at the Paris climate conference last December. New policies are now required for Scotland to continue its commendable path to decarbonising its economy.”

The CCC issued a similar warning over UK’s reliance on the power sector to reduce emissions in July.