The SNP’s Net Zero Secretary will target decarbonising housing and cleaning up Scotland’s transport when she publishes her government’s updated climate change plan later this year.
The Scottish Government is under pressure to deliver on its commitments to cut climate emissions, having fallen behind on meeting targets.
For seven out of the last 11 years, Scotland has failed to hit annual targets.
Statutory advisers, the Climate Change Committee has warned that the legal target to cut 1990 levels of carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030, is “moving out of view”.
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The country has pledged to reach net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the UK-wide target.
Mairi McAllan, who took over responsibility for Scotland’s net zero strategy under Humza Yousaf, has admitted that no part of the Scottish economy is cutting pollution fast enough.
Speaking to The Herald, Ms McAllan admitted “annual targets are tough”, but acknowledged Scotland is making “long-term progress” in cutting pollution.
Since 1990, carbon emissions have been cut by more than 50% in Scotland. But that same progress will need to be made in just seven years if the 2030 target is to be met.
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Pointing to the challenge being faced, Ms McAllan summed it up as changing “everything everywhere all at once”.
She added: “Really there's no sector that is currently doing enough to meet the objectives.”
Ms McAllan is also responsible for the just transition of workers as part of the move to net zero.
She stressed that the transition must happen “in a way that our economy can cope with and our communities can cope with”.
The cabinet secretary added: “So when I see everything everywhere, all at once, that that's what the climate emergency demands, but we have to do it fairly and in a managed way.”
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Asked which areas will need more attention to cut emissions quicker, Ms McAllan pointed to transport and heat in buildings, as well as agriculture and energy.
She said: “I have responsibility for decarbonisation of transport and heat in buildings in my own portfolio and they're two of our most significant emitters, so we need to plan to decarbonise our domestic and non-domestic properties.
“And we need to plan to decarbonise transport.
“So there will be actions being developed for both of those.”
Pointing to energy and agriculture, which she is not directly responsible for, Ms McAllan said her SNP colleagues “will need to develop even more ambitious policies to go into this climate change plan at the end of the year”.
Concerns have been raised over where the billions of pounds of funding needed to clean up the Scottish economy as part of the net zero strategy will come from.
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Nicola Sturgeon’s administration has insisted the bulk of the spend will need to come from the private sector, rather than the government, with Ms McAllan sharing that train of thought.
She said: “I firmly believe in the polluter pays principle.
“Of course, that's one of the principles that underpins the DRS (deposit return scheme) that we are currently developing.”
The Net Zero Secretary highlighted the most recent IPCC climate report which “said there is enough global finance” to meet net zero.
She added: “So we just have to find ways of leveraging that in, in a responsible way that is not tantamount to greenwashing, that is additional and verifiable but we have to do that.
“I'm confident that as that corporate social responsibility starts to kick in, more and more businesses will be looking to invest what they have in a green future.”
Ms McAllan insisted her government “will put everything that we possibly can into that critical pathway to net zero” and to ensure targets are met.
Read more: SNP Net Zero Secretary claims UK wants Scotland to test water on DRS
She added: “We have annual targets and the statutory responsibility to catch up on those where they're missed.
“There's a very, very close legal framework for everything that we do.”
Asked what the UK Government can do to assist her strategy, Ms McAllan pointed to a key bugbear of the Scottish Government – for UK ministers to commit funding to a carbon capture project in the north east, that will also help to clean up the Grangemouth industrial hub.
Ms McAllan said the fact it has so-far missed out on funding was “inexplicable”, although Conservative ministers have placed it as one of the projects next in line for funding.
But the cabinet secretary suggested that without certainty over funding soon, Scotland’s 2030 and 2045 targets could be put at risk.
She said: “I am very pleased that it has been included in track two.
“Now we need to see clarity from the UK Government about when that's going to close because, you know, the closure of that round is absolutely critical to our 2030 and 2045 targets.”
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