Just over a month ago, Humza Yousef resigned from his position as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP). While there was mounting pressure on Yousef over several policy decisions, the straw that broke the camel’s back was his decision to end the Brute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens.
This swiftly prompted a vote of no confidence in Yousef and his Government and, after defeat, he handed in his formal resignation. The scrapping of the Brute House Agreement has left the Party with a minority government.
New leader, John Swinney, has failed to reinstate the power-sharing agreement with the Greens, which could lead to future problems for the SNP, particularly on green policies.
This year, after recommendations from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), the SNP have already backtracked on their bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent by 2030, leaving question marks around their ability to deliver policy ambitions in this area.
In light of Yousef’s resignation and the shift in green policy in Scotland, we caught up with Lord Ian Duncan of Springbank to discuss the nation’s green future.
A Small Problem or a Sign of Things to Come?
As mentioned, the Scottish Government have recently ditched their flagship target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent by 2030. The decision to scrap the target came after a report from the CCC outlined that Scotland wasn’t doing enough to be on target to meet this goal.
The report stated that Scottish Ministers had missed eight of the last twelve annual targets on greenhouse gases and that the milestone had simply become “unachievable”.
It wasn’t the first time that the CCC had come down hard on Scotland, either, as back in 2022, they warned that Scotland was no longer the UK leader on green policies.
Despite the removal of the 2030 target, the SNP still, to this day, retain the belief that they can reach net zero by 2045. This is a point that Lord Duncan was keen to emphasise, labelling the 2030 target as “interim” and saying that the ultimate target hasn’t changed.
However, he did acknowledge that not being on course to meet interim targets isn’t exactly a recipe for success on more long-term targets. To get back on track with this, Lord Duncan suggested that the SNP need to come out and “double down” on their ultimate target to show they are still committed to green policies.
A Weapon That Will be Used Against the SNP
In this UK election year, it’s fair to assume that the knives will be out and that the SNP’s decision to pull back on green policies and targets will be used by opponents across the country.
Lord Duncan suggested that Rishi Sunak should be wary of going down this path if he is planning on attacking the SNP, as he hasn’t been particularly strong when it comes to green policies over the past 12 months, either.
For Lord Duncan, it is mainly down to the Scottish Greens, who have been in a coalition with the SNP, to challenge them the most. He hopes that the Greens will keep the SNP true to their environmental commitments and force an explanation from them on what they intend to do to demonstrate they will reach the 2045 net zero target.
Duncan disagreed with the blame being put on the UK Government for Scotland’s failure to hit its 2030 target. Instead, he believes that Scotland were too ambitious when laying out their plans.
A Green Future That is Impossible to Predict
While several countries across the world have their own targets when it comes to the environment and reaching net zero, not many are on track to reach them.
In recent years, other issues have cropped up that have demanded funding over green issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The knock-on effect of that has been funding being taken away from green policies, which naturally has negative consequences. For Scotland, this is an issue that is further amplified by the fact that they are funded by the UK Government.
Therefore, regardless of how good their intentions are, sometimes they simply don’t receive the funding they feel is required. As a result, Lord Duncan stated that a reconfiguration of targets may well be necessary across the board to ensure that they are realistic rather than fantasy.
He concedes that doing this in an election year might not be wise from a political point of view, in terms of getting elected, however, he is very firm on the notion that climate issues supersede the political landscape.
To watch the full video of Chamber’s exclusive interview with Lord Ian Duncan, please click here.
This is just one of the articles that features in the ‘environment and climate change’ in Chamber’s pre-election journal. To gain access to all articles, please subscribe here.
