In 2011, Scotland's emissions fell by 9.9%, the UK's by 6.9%

Mar 27, 2014 02:06 GMT  ·  By

According to a new report shared with the public by the Committee on Climate Change, the United Kingdom might have a thing or two to learn from Scotland, at least as far as reducing greenhouse gas emissions is concerned.

Thus, the Committee says that, as shown by recent data, Scotland's overall greenhouse gas emissions fell by about 9.9% in 2011. By comparison, the United Kingdom as a whole only reduced its emissions by 6.9%.

The bad news is that, despite its making significant progress in terms of improving on its ecological footprint, Scotland failed to meet its legislated target of 53.4 MtCO2e (million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent).

Then again, the Committee on Climate Change says that the country missed this target by just 0.8 MtCO2e, Click Green informs. Otherwise put, perhaps there is no need to send it to the doghouse.

In said report, specialists with the Committee detail that Scotland managed to outperform the entire United Kingdom in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2011 thanks to a series of green-oriented policies.

More precisely, they argue that the country managed to improve on its ecological footprint to such an extent by curbing coal-fired electricity production and instead focusing on nuclear power and green energy sources.

The Committee on Climate Change maintains that, although nuclear power also helped curb pollution, Scotland's progress in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions was chiefly due to investments in harvesting renewables and in promoting energy efficiency.

It further details that, according to its investigations, the power and residential sectors, together with the public sector, were the ones that benefited the most from such policies. Specifically, their emissions dropped by 20% and 15%, respectively.

Commenting on the findings of this report, the current Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change, David Kennedy, said that, “There has been good progress in Scotland on reducing emissions in key sectors of the economy, notably through investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.”

“But much remains to be done in terms of policy development and implementation to achieve very challenging future targets, and to unlock the benefits for Scotland of building a low-carbon economy,” David Kennedy went on to stress.

As much as Scotland greened up its ways by 2011, the Committee on Climate Change argues that, if the country is to meet its goal to have all of its energy need met by renewables by the year 2020, further investments in clean power are needed.

Thus, it is estimated that, in order for the country to reach said goal, it would have to add 1.2 GW of new renewable capacity on a yearly basis.

Besides, the country must focus on developing a renewable heat industry, further promoting residential energy efficiency, and developing an infrastructure able to support a growing electric vehicle market. Better land use and forestry should also be given due consideration.