Commenting on today’s scrapping of Scotland’s 2030 climate change targets, Transform Scotland director Colin Howden said:
“It is dishonest of the Scottish Ministers to blame Westminster for its own failure to meet the climate targets that the Scottish Government itself set. While the Scottish Parliament may lack certain powers, the Scottish Ministers have ample powers and budgets to tackle emissions from transport, the largest source of climate emissions.
“The Scottish Government needs to be judged on where it is spending its money, not on vapid policy commitments.
“The Scottish Ministers could decide to switch funds from new road-building into public transport.
“However, in December last year, these same Scottish Ministers decided to accelerate spending on the A9 dualling while at the same time cancelling the Bus Partnership Fund. They also failed to meet their commitment to devote 10% of transport spending to active travel, and made multiple other cuts to investment in sustainable transport in the Scottish Budget.
“Today sees a recommitment to the 20% traffic reduction target and the traffic demand management measures that are imperative to restraining the growth in car use.
“But the traffic reduction commitment has been around for over three years, and there’s still no plan in place, yet alone a reorientation of investment to match this. And the Scottish Government has passed the buck to local authorities to take forward demand management without providing any financial incentives for them to take action.”
