COP26: Renewable heat targets missed by Scottish Government days before climate summit

Scotland has missed a key renewable energy target just days before the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow gets underway.

Targets set by the Scottish Government aimed for the equivalent of 11 per cent of fuels, other than electricity, for heating to come from renewable sources by 2020.

However, figures published today show the figure has dropped from 6.6 per cent to 6.4 per cent when comparing 2019 to 2020, with the total amount of “useful heat output” generated by renewable technologies dropping by 2.6 per cent in 2020.

This is triple the output generated in 2010 with the year-on-year drop attributed to “changes in operation” at a handful of “very large biomass sites” due to the “difficult year for the Scottish economy” due to Covid-19.

Scotland is lagging behind its renewable heat targets.

The vast majority, 71 per cent, of renewable heat is produced by biomass plants.

Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour’s Net Zero spokesperson, criticised the SNP for missing their target.

She said: “Despite all their warm words, the SNP’s track record on the environment is one of failure.

“Not only have they missed yet another key target, but things are actually getting worse.

“With COP26 a matter of days away, this exposes the gulf between SNP rhetoric and reality.

“Being a world-leader on the environment requires deeds not words – the First Minister should take her own advice and deliver credible action.”

Responding to a parliamentary question, the minister for zero carbon buildings, Patrick Harvie, said the headline statistic masked the “continued growth” in renewable heat systems for homes, such as heat pumps.

He said: “The Heat in Buildings Strategy, published earlier this month, makes clear we must accelerate deployment of zero emissions heat technologies so that by 2030 over 1 million homes and the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings are converted to zero emissions heat.

"We are maximising effort in devolved areas, but there are limits to what we can achieve on our own and critical policy areas remain reserved to the UK Government.

"While the UK’s new Heat and Buildings Strategy includes measures which will complement the comprehensive support package already available in Scotland the overall plan for action does not go far or fast enough.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.