One report written for Scottish ministers by the firm that compiles the UK’s greenhouse emissions inventory states “there is a very high risk” Scotland will miss that target by 20m tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e).
The Scottish government set itself the world-leading target of reaching net zero – the point where any excess carbon emissions are soaked up by trees, peat or carbon capture – by 2045.
Before it scrapped that target last year, Scotland had missed eight out of its 12 annual emissions reduction targets and had failed to meet its targets on tree planting, peatland restoration, cutting car use and installing low-carbon heating in homes.
The consultancy Ricardo AEA has told ministers Scotland could meet its 2045 target by massively increasing reforestation, peatland restoration and the use of technologies such as machines that extract CO2 from the air and carbon capture from bioenergy plants.
Scotland has already been forced to abandon a much earlier target of cutting its emissions by 75% by 2030 after the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC), the official advisory body, said it was “beyond what is credible”.
