THE Scottish Government will not produce its updated climate change action plan until the end of this year, the Environment Secretary had said.
Roseanna Cunningham had already announced the document – which was due to be published on Thursday – would have to be delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
She has now confirmed to MSPs on Holyrood's Environment Committee she intends to produce it "towards the end of this year".
Climate change legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament last year committed ministers to meeting tougher targets on reducing emissions.
The Climate Change Act set the goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 75% by 2030 and committed that Scotland would reach net-zero emissions by 2045.
The plan was needed to set out what measures would be needed for Scotland to achieve these goals.
READ MORE: Why Scottish nationalism will help us defeat climate change
Cunningham said: "I know this is not where any of us expected to be, goodness knows we could hardly have envisaged the scenario we are now having to work in and the speed with which things change, the uncertainty around that.
"I and the Government remain committed to Scotland's world-leading climate change targets."
But she added the deadline for producing the climate change plan update for the end of April, six months after the legislation was passed, is "no longer feasible nor appropriate given the challenges we are currently facing".
She said there will need to be "a bit of time to ensure the policies and proposals that we do put forward will reflect the new economic and social realities post-pandemic".
The new plan will need to be aligned with the economic recovery strategy that will be produced in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Cunningham added: "None of us can be blind to the disruption to the economy that has happened and that does mean that some of our assumptions about attitudes and individual behaviours may have to shift as well.
"It's a bit too soon to say what the long-term impacts will be, or the unintended consequences, but we can't proceed if there will not be those long-term impacts.
"We have to take some time to analyse the scale of economic and societal change, and to think about which policies will need to be updated."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel