Co-leader of Scottish Greens says Holyrood has ‘failed spectacularly’ as annual figures show target missed by 2m tonnes equivalent of CO2

Scottish ministers have been accused of “a staggering lack of ambition” after the government missed its annual climate emissions target for the fourth year running.

We’re way ahead of the rest of the UK and indeed, if anything, we will achieve our 42% reduction target by 2020 early Richard Lochhead, the Scottish environment secretary

Opposition parties said Nicola Sturgeon’s government had to start dramatically cutting CO2 emissions from transport, housing and the public sector after the latest annual statistics showed Scotland missed its emissions target by 2m tonnes equivalent (mte) of CO2.

Ministers at Holyrood said they planned to greatly increase investment in home energy efficiency by making it a national planning priority. But Richard Lochhead, the Scottish environment secretary, admitted that was a long-term plan which had yet to confirm its goals and funding.

Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green party co-leader, said ministers had had six years to implement policies that would help achieve the legally set target of cutting Scotland’s emissions by 42% by 2020, frequently touted by Scottish National party leaders as the most ambitious in the world.

Calling on ministers to nearly double their current £119m-a-year budget for home energy efficiency, increase central planning of bus services, and abandon plans to scrap aviation passenger duty, Harvie said the decision to make home energy efficiency a national planning priority was announced months ago.

“They have failed spectacularly,” he said. “Since the Climate Act was passed in 2009 we have put nearly 10 million tonnes more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the targets allow – demonstrating a staggering lack of ambition by this government.”

Sarah Boyack, Scottish Labour’s shadow environment minister, said in most areas directly controlled by the Scottish government, including transport, agriculture and housing, the falls in CO2 emissions were very low. Transport emissions overall have been cut very little since 1999, with cuts in overall emissions due to improved vehicle efficiency, not Scottish government policy.

The latest data shows that, excluding North Sea oil and gas production emissions, Scotland released 53mte CO2 in 2013 against a Climate Act target of 48mte for 2013, compared to 55mte in 2012.

Much of that year-on-year fall was attributable to a steep decline in CO2 emissions from electricity generation because of a fall in energy usage overall, a fall in coal-burning and a steep decline in gas-burning in power stations because of the surge in world gas prices that year.



In parallel, renewable electricity production hit a record level of 32% in 2013, partly due to heavy Scottish government support. But the fall in fossil fuel use also meant the proportion of Scotland’s electricity needs met by nuclear power rose to 35% in 2013 – the highest proportion in a decade, despite the SNP’s firmly anti-nuclear stance.

Bouyed by a new opinion poll showing the SNP had achieved a record level of 60% support among voters, Lochhead insisted that despite missing all four consecutive annual targets, the government would still meet its 2020 target and could do so early.

Hitting the initial annual figures had been made harder than expected because the European commission revised its methods for assessing national CO2 emissions, after the 2009 act targets were set, he added.

Under current rules, Scotland’s overall emissions have fallen by 34% since 1990. Using the old measures in force in 2009, they would have fallen by 38% in 2013. Even the adjusted figures gave Scotland one of the best figures within the EU and better than the total UK figure, Lochhead insisted.

UK emissions have fallen 27% since 1990 but Scottish government data also shows that Scottish CO2 emissions per head in 2013 were 9.9 tonnes per person, higher than the 8.6t per head in England and the 9.3t per head for the UK as a whole.

Lochhead said: “The statistics show we are making fantastic progress. We’re ahead of virtually every European country bar two. We’re way ahead of the rest of the UK and indeed, if anything, we will achieve our 42% reduction target by 2020 early. So Scotland is showing leadership. We’re getting results.”

• The second paragraph of this article was corrected on 9 June 2015 because it confused a figure for Scottish emissions in 2013 which took account of EU emissions trading rules. That figure put 2013 emissions at 50m tonnes equivalent (mte) of CO2. The headline figures for 2013 excluding the emissions trading scheme put Scotland’s emissions at 53mte CO2, compared to 55mte CO2 in 2012.