SNP at risk of missing key net zero emissions target, warns watchdog
Ministers were not delivering on the 'short-term stuff' needed to ensure that the country is carbon neutral within 20 years, according to Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC).
The intervention comes a year after the Scottish Government scrapped its legally binding annual and interim targets for cutting carbon emissions after admitting they would not be met.
The overall goal of net zero by 2045 remains in place, but experts have warned urgent progress is needed now if that is to be achieved.
Speaking to the Holyrood magazine a month before the CCC publishes its latest advice to the Scottish Government, Ms Pinchbeck said climate progress across the UK was stalling.
Asked whether getting 95 per cent of the way towards net zero by 2045 could be considered a success, she said: 'This is a politician's answer, but I wouldn't deal in a hypothetical like that. Our job is to advise them on the target... if you're making really good progress on decarbonisation, that's great.
'I don't want to speculate on where [Scotland] may or may not get to. The much more important thing for the Scottish Government to focus on right now is progress right in front of their faces in the next five to 10 years.
'Long-term goals are important... but Scotland, as with Westminster, has not made progress on the short-term stuff to deliver on any targets.
'I don't like entertaining hypothetical conversations about 2050 because we've got lots of short-term action to do, and that's where the focus should be.'
Ms Pinchbeck also emphasised the need for a net zero strategy that ensures workers are not left behind. Speaking about the closure of Grangemouth, where about 400 jobs are set to be lost this year, she said: 'Deindustrialisation is not a successful decarbonisation strategy.
'Sensible governments move early to do something for those workers and those industries. Industrial strategy isn't technically in the CCC's mandate, but we've said that alongside a decarbonisation strategy you need a strategy for those industries and those communities that will need additional support.
Net zero tsar
'The public thinks the transition needs to be fair but they recognise there are communities that will not benefit from this transition. If you're in Aberdeen, for example, the transition away from oil and gas feels very different than it will UK-wide.'
WWF Scotland, the environmental charity, said Ms Pinchbeck's remarks were 'further evidence' that climate action in Scotland was 'slowly but surely slipping down the list of priorities of the Scottish Government'.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'We remain fully committed to delivering net zero by 2045, with our upcoming carbon budgets and the next climate change plan setting out our approach to delivering on Scotland's net zero targets in a way which is credible, just and fair for everyone.'
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