Scotland outperforms UK in reducing emissions
Well done Scotland :)
(Flag up to @HelenArmet & @NewsOrkney) archive.fo/uh4QB
Well done Scotland :)
(Flag up to @HelenArmet & @NewsOrkney) archive.fo/uh4QB
There is a part that says Scotland is "lagging on cleaning up transport", but these figures are from 2016 - the British Government takes forever to collate the data - so they're already out of date. We've made significant progress since then.
The big environmental gain for Scottish transport is the project to electrify the majority of trains in the Central Belt. That's almost finished, with full operation expected at some point in 2019. I'll be very interested to see the transport emissions report for 2020.
In particular, the new Class 385 electric train is 18% more energy efficient than the old diesel trains it will replace, allowing a 21% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. (The reason it's not 100% is that a lot of electricity still comes from fossil fuel power stations.)
Those Class 385 figures are from a general PR article in Global Railway Review about the new train: archive.fo/R3O0J
Unfortunately, there is a more substantial fly in the ointment for Scotland, because there's also a lag in reducing agricultural emissions. This will be a much harder nut to crack, because agriculture is a strange mishmash of devolved and reserved powers.
That situation will only become worse if the British Government succeeds in its attempt to grab devolved powers as part of Brexit. archive.fo/fE0M2
Many agricultural powers are currently exercised by the EU and should revert to Scotland after Brexit, but the British Government has changed the law to try and keep those powers for itself. If they succeed, it will be much harder for Scotland to meet its environmental targets.
In order to help the agricultural industry reduce emissions, the Scottish Government need control of the powers that would let them provide subsidies and loans for things like low tillage farming, electric farm vehicles and biogas power from farm waste.
If the Brexit power grab succeeds, devolved and reserved powers will be even more mixed up, which will make a coordinated approach that much harder to achieve. The very fact of the power grab also casts serious doubt on the British Government's willingness to cooperate at all.
