SNP retreat is “high water” for Net Zero

Net Zero Watch welcomes Scottish Government’s new-found realism on climate.

Campaign group Net Zero Watch has welcomed the announcement by the Scottish Government that they are considering legislating to water down their Net Zero targets.[1] Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan told the Holyrood Parliament that, having set themselves a legally binding target of cutting carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, she and her officials were now considering a variety of options to address the impossibility of actually delivering, including legislation.

Welcoming the move, Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford said:

Politicians across the world have set ruinous, utopian targets that are impossible to deliver. Ms McAllan is the first to publicly face up to reality, but she won’t be the last. We have reached the high water mark for Net Zero.

Under the Climate Change Act, governments can amend the decarbonisation target and the timetable for achieving it by regulation, as happened in 2020 [2]. It is also open to them to legislate.

Mr Montford said:

This is a purely political decision. Whatever course they take, the Scottish Government will face opposition from environmentalists, the Climate Change Committee and their Green coalition partners. But they have no option. You can’t negotiate with reality.

Notes for editors

[1] https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-actively-considering-using-legislation-to-potentially-water-down-climate-targets-4563201

[2] https://www.gov.scot/publications/climate-change-scotland-act-2009-interim-target-amendments/