Cleaning up the world's act on pollution

IT IS a piece of legislation that has attracted an onslaught of demands from green groups and the public.

And yesterday the Scottish Government bowed to the pressure of more than 21,000 people by announcing it will bring in what it believes will be the most ambitious laws in the world to tackle climate change.

The plans for the Scottish Climate Change Bill were generally applauded by environment groups, but they warned the toughest challenge is still ahead. They said that only if tough action is taken can the targets actually be achieved.

Finance secretary John Swinney yesterday declared that Scotland would not only slash the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by 80 per cent by 2050, but will include international aviation and shipping as sources of emissions.

The Scottish Government will also set annual targets for reductions in emissions to make sure continuous action is taken, rather than just aiming for an overall 80 per cent cut by 2050.

And the targets will include all six major greenhouse gas emissions, rather than just carbon dioxide.

Despite an amendment expected by the UK government today to bring Westminster's bill almost in line with Scotland's, the Scottish Government yesterday insisted Holyrood legislation would be "the most ambitious bill to tackle climate change anywhere in the world".

Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy for WWF Scotland, said it was very encouraging the voices of the public were being heard, but warned the targets alone are not enough. Achieving the ambition will be the real challenge.

Although he believes the targets are "definitely achievable", he said they will "certainly be challenging" and will depend on specific measures to address energy, food and transport policy.

"We will have to make some changes to our lifestyles and might have to accept some difficult decisions by government, such as congestion charging," he said.

However, he suggests many of the actions that need to be taken could have positive results, making it safer to walk and cycle, promoting healthy lifestyles, improving public transport and encouraging people to grow their own food.

Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, agrees that Scotland can benefit from bringing about the changes that are needed to slash emissions.

He says this will result in homes that are energy efficient and cheap to run, streets that are safer and the provision of good quality, local food.

He still has some reservations about the strength of the legislation, but added: "It would be utterly churlish not to recognise that the Scottish Government is responding very positively to the weight of public opinion."

Despite some claims that Scotland's actions will make little difference to global emissions, he says the legislation was crucial in the run up to a conference in Copenhagen next year when new worldwide targets will be set.

"We are setting an international lead," he said. "If rich countries demonstrate that action can be taken, that's the only way the US and China and India will be brought into an international framework that limits everyone's climate change emissions."

Dr Barlow agreed this is the key reason why the legislation is important.

"This can obviously be a critical international example of what other countries can look to," he said. "We are entering a very critical phase of international negotiations on global climate policy so it's fantastic to have an exemplar.

"The Scottish Government is keen to demonstrate it can really take a leadership role on issues and this is an issue where they can have an impact way beyond Scotland.

"It's setting a precedent and it transforms the situation from what can be possible, to what governments are actually committed to doing."

He also believes this would benefit Scotland's economy.

"It hopefully gives us in Scotland the confidence to develop the infrastructure and technology to support that target," he said.

"It gives a very strong steer to business and industry that this is a trajectory Scotland is going to be on.

"There's a huge opportunity for investment and then we will have something huge that we can export elsewhere."

First Minister Alex Salmond also drummed home the potential for economic growth, when he hailed the climate change targets during a visit to Falkirk-based bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis yesterday.

He said the opportunities for businesses such as Alexander Dennis, which is about to launch new electric-diesel buses, are "vast".

"The ultimate benefit is of course a cleaner, more sustainable future for Scotland and our future generations," he said. "However, the economic benefits for individual business cannot be overlooked."

Patrick Harvie, Green MSP, described the announcement as a "great day for environmental campaigners" but is concerned by the details of the response to the consultation that suggest annual targets will be based on expert advice from the UK Committee on Climate Change and will be set more than ten years in advance.

"There's no reason ministers can't start to turn around Scotland's dependence on fossil fuels right now," he said. "It's extraordinary they feel the need to ask Westminster what cuts in emissions we should be making, and from when."

Colin Howden, director of sustainable transport alliance Transform Scotland, warned that setting targets in isolation is not enough.

He said: "What we now need to see is the government matching its statements about tackling greenhouse gas emissions with action.

"The government's draft budget would bring about a massive increase in funding for new road-building, while the proposed National Planning Framework plans to legislate for airport expansion and a 4.2 billion second Forth Road Bridge. Transport is the basket case of climate policy.

"Until such time as investment is switched into sustainable transport, and away from subsidising road use and airport expansion, there is no chance that we will see falls in climate change emissions from the transport sector."

Competition hots up to be the best

THE Scottish Government has long prided itself on its determination to lead the way by creating the best climate-change legislation in the world.

However, in the past weeks it has had to battle to keep up with the UK government's aims for its climate-change bill.

The Scottish Government initially led the way by pledging to bring in 80 per cent emission cuts by 2050, compared to an aim of 60 per cent by the UK government.

However, Ed Milliband, the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, earlier this month said the UK bill would also set its targets at 80 per cent.

In response, finance secretary John Swinney yesterday announced new measures to again push the Scottish bill into the lead, by including emissions from international aviation and shipping.

However, today Mr Milliband is expected to accept an amendment, which would see similar measures adopted by Westminster.

Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, thinks it is "absolutely wonderful" that the two governments appear to be competing for the best legislation.

"Twenty years ago when I started off as an environmental campaigner there was no way that we were going to get governments or even political parties trying to be better than each other at dealing with environmental problems," he said.

He thinks the Scottish Government is ahead of the UK by a "nose" by planning to include annual targets for emission reduction, but said there was still room for improvement.

"I'm not yet optimistic that the bill as a whole will have the teeth needed," he said.

"If the Scottish Government really wants to be able to say they have the best bill in the world then they are going to have to build in a framework of incentives and sanctions and build in a cumulative target to 2050."