Decarbonisation And The Lost Years – Changing Tack To Regain Ground

With Scotland's ambitious target to achieve a 75% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030 appearing unachievable, decarbonisation is pulled into focus.

First published in The Sunday Times' The Business.

The headline on 19 March 2024 on BBC News confirmed what was feared: "Scotland's climate target unreachable says watchdog".

The ambitious target of 2030 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% was an announcement which was met with much fanfare and the Scottish Government was lauded for leading the way in its ambition to address climate change.

But – we've now had confirmation in the Climate Change Committee (CCC) report of 20 March 2024 that the target is not going to be met and a very frank assessment was delivered by the CCC as to why – in summary, a failure to plan has resulted in a plan to fail.