The Scottish Government will likely repeat failures that resulted in the ditching of 2030 climate targets unless better scrutiny mechanisms are introduced in the next Climate Change Plan, according to a new joint briefing from the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS).
Campaigners exposed key legal failings in the monitoring, reporting, and assessment of progress towards emission reduction in three recent representations made to Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS), Scotland’s post-Brexit environmental watchdog.
The cases highlighted the Government’s failure to conduct an adequate climate assessment of infrastructure spending plans, to report to Parliament on action to be taken if climate targets were missed, and to quantify the impact of policies and proposals in its Climate Change Plan (CCP), all of which are legal duties under Scotland’s Climate Change Act.
Campaigners are urging the Government to embed improved monitoring, reporting, scrutiny and transparency in forthcoming legislation and the new CCP, in order to avoid repeating previous failings and ensure the effective delivery of climate policy to accelerate progress towards net zero.
Shivali Fifield, Chief Officer at ERCS, said:
‘As new First Minister, John Swinney says tackling the climate emergency is one of his four key priorities, but the recent debacle over ditched 2030 climate targets has exposed deep failings in the Scottish Government’s plans to deliver real and lasting emissions cuts.
If the government had followed the duties set out in its own Climate Change Act, to fully assess and report on emissions reductions, it could have averted a series of embarrassing policy failures and kept us on track to meet the 2030 climate targets.
The First Minister now needs to restore trust if he wants to talk about climate leadership. His government must demonstrate much greater transparency and a credible methodology for objective climate impact assessments. Without this, Scotland’s climate plans are doomed to fail and that is just unacceptable.’
ENDS
For more information contact
Benji Brown, Policy & Advocacy Officer
Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland
bbrown@ercs.scot, 07856 407479
Becky Kenton-Lake, Coalition Manager Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, becky@stopclimatechaos.scot
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) carries out advocacy in policy and law reform to improve environmental rights and compliance with the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice on environmental matters.
[2] Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) is a diverse coalition of over 70 civil society organisations campaigning together on climate change in Scotland. Its campaigns call for the Scottish Government to take bold action to tackle climate change, with Scotland delivering our fair share of action to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees, championing international climate justice and inspiring others to take action.
[3] ERCS and SCCS have produced a joint briefing available at: https://www.ercs.scot/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ERCS-SCCS_climate-plan-briefing_June24v2.pdf
