Scotland is on pace to meet its emissions reduction targets, but there's no silver bullet and there's room for improvement, the climate change minister said.
"The Scottish government has already increased investment in domestic energy efficiency – from $150 million last year to $180 million this year," Minister Aileen McLeod said in a statement. "But we must do more to meet Scotland's world-leading and ambitious climate change targets."
Scotland has one of the more ambitious green energy agendas in the world and it's on pace to meet its goal of cutting emissions by 42 percent ahead of schedule. With heating accounting for nearly half of the emissions and just over half of all energy demand, McLeod said there's room for more work outside the transport and electricity sectors.
Emissions have fallen by 38.4 percent from a 1990 baseline. New efforts to cut emissions further include a $760,000 investment in flaring technology that could cut emissions from landfills and more support for a cleaner transportation sector.
"I will continue to press the international community to look to Scotland and follow our example in striving for the highest global ambition to tackle climate change," McLeod said.
Scotland aims to draw more on renewable energy to power its economy, while looking toward oil and gas reserves in the North Sea as a source of revenue. Renewable electricity capacity has grown at an average rate of 660 megawatts each year since 2007.
Friends of the Earth in January said Scottish air pollution broke legal limits set in 2010. Nevertheless, the advocacy group said the Scottish government has shown signs of working to adopt a low-emission economic strategy.
Scotland pegged its future during a bid for independence on revenue from oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. The bid failed last year and the government said the region's energy sector needs a predictable set of governing policies in order to thrive.
