Scotland loses UK climate change lead, advisers warn

Scotland has lost its lead over the rest of the UK on tackling climate change, advisers have warned.

A report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) said progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions has “largely stalled” in recent years.

Its independent assessment said Scotland’s targets – some of the toughest in the world – was “increasingly at risk”.

The Scottish government insisted progress was being made in many areas.

The Scottish government has set a legally-binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the date set for the UK as a whole.

As a staging post, it legislated in 2019 to cut emissions by a massive 75% from 1990 baseline levels by the end of this decade.

The latest CCC report points out that since its Climate Change Act became law in 2009, the Scottish government has failed to achieve seven of the 11 legal targets.

Although it met the latest one, for 2020, it said that was because the Covid pandemic saw a temporary drop in transport emissions and that the figures will rebound in future years.