The Scottish Government have released new figures showing that greenhouse gas emissions in the country have fallen by 28.9% since 1990. That's a further 7% reduction in 2009.
That's a huge step towards our goals of a 42% reduction by 2020. But I fear complacency.
As Stan Blackley, the head of Friends of the Earth Scotland says, preliminary figures actually showed an increase in 2010 - the latest statistics only go up to 2009 - and the emissions reduction may just be riding on the coattails of the recession.
However, I do have the hope that, as with climate change, it is the overall trend that counts rather than individual yearly figures. And a 29% drop over 20 years is a very, very positive trend.
Hopefully, the government will increase their efforts to continue the trend despite the upcoming upward blip.
2 comments:
So we've been doing quite well?
How are we going about achieving this in Scotland?
There's a whole load of things. I'll not pretend that the recession hasn't had an effect, and of course the biggest drop has come from the end of heavy industry since 1990. But other things like the increasing role of renewables in our energy mix and local governments making a concerted effort to reduce their emissions all add up.
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