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Scottish Government targets 66% emissions cut as part of climate change plan


Plans to cut Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions by 66% when compared to 1990 levels over the next 15 years have been published for consultation by the government.

If adopted in its current form, the draft climate change plan could lead to "wide-ranging changes in transport, logistics, buildings, heating, power, agriculture and land management", according to climate change secretary Roseanna Cunningham.

The proposals "represent a new level of ambition" for Scotland, and would provide "an important opportunity for debate" about the policies which should be implemented in order to reach those goals, Cunningham said.

"The transition to a low carbon economy offers important opportunities for Scotland – thanks to our highly skilled workforce, the strength of our research institutions and, of course, our natural resources," she said.

"The Scottish Government's ambitions are clear, but we have now reached a point in our journey where future progress will require the support of individuals, organisations and businesses across the country," she said.

The 2009 Climate Change (Scotland) Act commits the Scottish Government to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% when compared to 1990 levels by 2050. It met a previous interim climate change target of a 42% cut to emissions by 2020 six years early, although the Committee on Climate Change has suggested that this result was partly due to warmer than average winters.

The draft plan, which will be scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament over the next 60 days, was published ahead of a new low carbon energy strategy for Scotland, announced as part of the 2017 Programme for Government. The Scottish Government has identified energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority, and intends to support this commitment with more than £500 million of public funding over the next three years.

The Scottish Government has proposed full decarbonisation of the electricity sector by 2032 as part of its draft plan, which makes explicit reference to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through carbon capture and storage. It also intends for 80% of Scotland's domestic heating needs to be provided for through low carbon heat technologies by the same date, along with an increase in the proportion of annual ultra-low emission new car and van registrations in Scotland to 40%.

The plan also proposes an increased annual woodland creation target of at least 15,000 hectares per year, as well as restoring 250,000 hectares of Scotland's degraded peatlands. Woodlands and peatland are both natural carbon 'sinks', which remove carbon dioxide from the air.

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