Scot-Govt announces new target to cut C02 emissions by 66% by 2032

The Scot-Govt yesterday published its plans detailing how it intend to meet a new target of reducing emissions by 66% by 2032.

Scotland is already on track to meet the 2020 target of reduce emissions by 42% and the new Climate Change Plan sets out the Scot-Govt’s decarbonisation plans for the next 14 years.

By 2032, the Scot-Govt promises that: –

• Scotland’s electricity sector, already largely decarbonised, will be important as a low carbon power source for heat and transport with 50% of all of Scotland’s energy needs to be delivered by renewables by 2030
• Transport emissions will have reduced by 37%
• The Scot-Govt will have ‘phased out the need’ to buy petrol and diesel cars or vans and introduced low emission zones by 2032
• It will have reduced emissions by 33% in Scotland’s buildings
• Woodland will cover 21% of Scotland – up from 18%, while
• 70% of all waste will be recycled by 2025.

Roseanna Cunningham, MSP, the Scottish environment minister, said the new plans ‘build on recent achievements’.

The plan is available online.

Andy Kerr, Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation, commented: “It’s good to see this <climate-change policy> momentum maintained today in setting out plans for the next 15 years.

“In many ways, we’ve made the easier changes already – shifting to renewable electricity, gradually reducing waste and boosting energy efficiency. Now it’s time to move on to bigger challenges.

“Decarbonising transport, heating and agriculture will require innovation and commitment to implementation that goes beyond what we’ve already seen, bringing enormous opportunities and social and economic benefits to create a clean and thriving economy.”

1 Mar 2018