It is becoming ever more evident that radical Net Zero policies are unsustainable and will backfire badly.
The Scottish government has missed its own “world-leading” climate change targets for the third year in a row.
Part of the 51.5 per cent fall in emissions against the baseline in 2019, which is short of the 55 per cent target, can be attributed to the fact that the previous year’s figure has also been significantly revised upwards. This means there were more greenhouse gases released in 2018 than previously thought.
Jamie Livingstone, the head of Oxfam Scotland, criticised the failure ahead of the November United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop26). “On the eve of the most significant global climate talks for years being hosted in Glasgow, the Scottish government has scored a hat-trick of own goals by missing its annual emissions targets three years in a row,” he said.
SNP ministers have set a legal target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045, which is five years ahead of the UK government’s ambition. An interim target of 75 per cent by 2030 is also in place, although this is beyond what the climate change committee believes is feasible.