UK carbon budget response

11th December 2013

Paul Wheelhouse comments on a report from the Committee on Climate Change.

Commenting on the Committee on Climate Change’s final advice to the UK Government that there has been no change in the circumstances upon which the fourth carbon budget (2023-2027) was originally set in 2011, Environment and Climate Change Minister Paul Wheelhouse said:

“We strongly endorse the Committee on Climate Change view that there is no case for the UK Government to pull back from its 4th carbon budget and we welcome their view that Scotland has made good progress in key sectors such as energy.

“Given the recent warning by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that humans are almost certainly influencing the climate, Scotland’s actions alone are not enough and that is why we need the rest of the UK to, at the very least, meet the 4th carbon budget as set out by the CCC, but ideally to match Scotland’s ambition and targets on tackling climate change.

“Scotland has set world-leading greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to reduce Scotland’s emissions by 42 per cent by 2020, and has detailed plans on how to meet those targets. Between 1990-2011, Scotland’s unadjusted emissions reduction of 29.6 per cent (25.7% after adjustment for net ETS emissions) was the largest in Western Europe (the EU-15). We remain steadfast in our commitment to our targets, which will outperform the current UK target for 2020, and we will continue to support efforts to secure an ambitious global deal on climate change in 2015.”