AMBITI
OUS new targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were set out yesterday by Scottish ministers, who urged the world to follow their lead to tackle climate change.
John Swinney, the finance secretary, said Scotland would cut greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050 – a third more than the UK target over the same period.
Mr Swinney said the Scottish Government would be tied to annual targets and to a tough new regime of scrutiny to make sure the overall reduction was achieved.
This will mean big changes in electricity generation, moving away from fossil fuels to renewables and heavy investment in clean coal technology and carbon capture.
More solar panels and wind turbines on Scottish homes, more recycling and tougher regulations on new buildings will also be introduced to meet the targets.
But both the Scottish Government and opposition politicians acknowledge that Scotland's achievements will count for very little without the same sort of commitment elsewhere in the world.
The Chinese government has set a target of a 10 per cent cut in emissions by 2010 while India has set an equally modest target of a 25 per cent cut by 2020.
The United States still has no national target for a cut in emissions, although all the main candidates to replace George Bush as president next year have promised to introduce nationwide targets for the first time.
Even the European Union, which has been leading the arguments for proper greenhouse gas reduction targets, only has a target of a 20 per cent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020.
Mr Swinney said: "It's essential that we tackle global warming as a planetary issue. We hope and believe that by announcing such ambitious targets for ourselves, that can, in itself, help to tackle it. But just as importantly, we hope it will encourage other nations around the world to follow suit. It is essential that happens because we have to tackle this on a global basis."
Maf Smith, director of the Sustainable Development Commission Scotland, added: "Governments across the world are shying away from taking the necessary action. The Scottish Government must be commended for its intention to lead the way for other countries."
But Patrick Harvie, a Green MSP, said more needed to be done. "Even if Scotland meets the minister's ambitious targets to reduce pollution, we still need to see a concerted international action to make a real difference."
The 80 per cent target was chosen because that is the level of reduction scientists believe is necessary to have a 50 per cent chance of avoiding a dangerous rise in global temperatures.
It was set and agreed by scientists and published in the Climatic Change Journal last year as the best estimate to measure climate change and the best way to combat it.
Mr Harvie said that climate change experts had warned that a 90 per cent reduction was actually now required to stave off a dangerous rise in global temperatures.
Mr Swinney announced the new target as part of a consultation on the Scottish Government's Climate Change Bill, which was launched yesterday.
Environmentalists, business leaders and members of the public are being invited to contribute to the consultation, which will then be used to fashion the legislation.
The consultation set out a number of areas where action is needed. But instead of demanding new standards for each area, ministers have kept the paper vague and non-specific, asking instead for submissions before making definitive judgments for each area.
Professor Thomas Crowley, a global expert in climate change, said he believed the 80 per cent target was "ambitious but achievable".
Prof Crowley, a professor of geo-sciences based in Edinburgh, said Scotland would have a better chance of hitting the tough new limits than almost anywhere else in the world, because of the potential for renewables and the collective political will to drive the issue forward.
He added it would be difficult but possible. "I don't think it's crazy. It might be very ambitious but it is conceivable that it will be achievable," he said.
THE KEY AREASMicrogenerationMany more people are expected to have their own forms of electricity generation in their homes by 2050.
The usual forms will be wind turbines or solar panels, although some people will tap into underground heat sources or use biomass – biological material like wood or animal waste – as fuel.
Microgeneration plants can be used to produce electricity for the home or business. Jason Ormiston, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "Everyone has a responsibility at home to consider whether they can use microgeneration.
"It's not easy in all circumstances. We recognise that and we should make it easy. Indeed, it should be as easy to buy a solar panel as it is to buy a flat-screen TV.We are talking here, mainly, about converting existing buildings."
Combined heat and powerCombined heat and power is a relatively new way of saving energy and heat. Power stations divert heat, which would have gone up into the atmosphere, into electricity or use it to warm other buildings.
It can used on different scales, from a power station next to a major industrial site like a refinery, down to the level of a generating station for a small community. The use of combined heat and power stations is expected to increase dramatically over the next few decades.
Peter Smith, of the Combined Heat and Power Association, said: "Combined heat and power is incredibly efficient and cost-effective way of reducing these emissions.
If combined heat and power was to grow, it would be a huge benefit to the environment."
Cutting emissions and heat loss from buildingsNew buildings are constructed to rigorous new energy standards, but most people live in older houses – many from the Victorian era or even earlier – almost all of which are poor at heat retention.
Mike Thornton, director, Scotland, for the Energy Saving Trust, said there were about 600,000 homes without cavity wall insulation in Scotland and tens of thousands which either had no roof insulation or were under-insulated. "There are large numbers of simple, cost-effective measures which can be done and installed by homeowners to reduce emissions and which will also save them money," he said.
By 2050, it will be unusual for homes not to have good insulation and for heating bills to be much lower than they are now.
Waste and recyclingMore and more people are recycling their waste, rather than dumping it in landfill sites.
This has two direct benefits. It helps save raw materials – as recycled material is used over and over again – and it helps reduce landfill sites, which produce methane, a greenhouse gas. To hit the Scottish Government's emission targets, there will have to be more recycling and less waste. Lisa Macleod, from the Scottish Waste Awareness Group, said Scotland had improved, but there was a long way to go.
"We need to move away from landfill sites," she said.
"They emit the powerful greenhouse gas methane, which is over 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and if we are to play our part in the fight against climate change, we must significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions."
Carbon storageThis is a method of keeping carbon dioxide deep underground or under the sea.
Ministers believe it has the potential to deal with 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide from Scotland's fossil-fuel power stations, without that gas going into the atmosphere.
As these power stations produce most greenhouse gases in Scotland, that would go a long way to meeting the Scottish Government's target. Dan Barlow, the acting director of WWF Scotland, said: "This is a way of preventing carbon emissions from going into the atmosphere and we need to do that if we are going to reduce emissions sufficiently to prevent a temperature rise of two degrees. Work is required to make sure sites are identified where there is no risk of leakage, but there is a need for it globally, alongside a growth in renewables."
The public sectorThis makes up a quarter of Scottish employment and accounts for the vast majority of the public buildings – including schools and hospitals.
It is the focus of government attention because ministers can regulate it and demand new standards in a way they cannot for the private sector.
Jason Ormiston, the chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "Some local authorities and some public buildings have done very well, the Scottish Natural Heritage building in Inverness is top drawer in energy efficiency and micro-generation systems."
Mr Ormiston said that he expected public-private contracts to be redrawn, forcing private companies to meet tough new environmental standards if they are building for the public sector.
