From The Herald, Scotland:
"THE FAILURE of the Scottish Government to meet its own climate emissions target has been blamed on the “beast from the east” bringing cold weather to the nation in 2018.
New statistics show that by the end of 2018, Scotland was unable to reduce its emissions by the 54 per cent requirement from levels in 1990, with a Scottish Government report stating that “the target for 2018 has not been met”.
The Scottish Government has committed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, including aviation, to net zero by 2045 but plans for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee to set up low emission zones have been delayed due to the Covid-19 crisis. The latest climate change action plan will now not be published until the end of this year, after the Scottish Government announced a delay due to the pandemic.
Last year, the Scottish Parliament passed legislation setting the target for 2018 emissions at 54 per cent. The legislation set a target on 2018, which had passed by the time MSPs voted on the Bill in September 2019.The target for 2020 is currently set at 56 per cent."
And:
"Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said the annual increase is “certainly disappointing” and stressed that the bar has been “intentionally been set to provide an extremely stretching pathway to net zero”.
She added: “By being ambitious and by stretching ourselves in pursuit of net zero, we will go a long way to reaching our destination.”
Ms Cunningham put the increase in emissions from 2017 to 2018 down to “changes to the national energy mix and freezing temperatures from the beast from the east during the early months of 2018” which led to “a rise in emissions from energy supply and heating use for buildings."
Please help me up - I haven't laughed this hard since before I was born!
MFBB.