Exclusive: A coalition of 60 charities, unions and churches has told Alex Salmond that a bill to tackle climate change does not go far enough, and accuses him of reneging on manifesto commitments on the environment.

A coalition of 60 charities, unions and churches has told Alex Salmond that a bill to tackle climate change does not go far enough, and accuses him of reneging on manifesto commitments on the environment.

Politicians have already voted to support the general principles of the Scottish Climate Change Bill that has set targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 and by 34% by 2020.

The Scottish Government also wants to ensure the target rises to at least 42% when the EU agrees to reduce emissions by 30% by 2020.

Now, in a stinging letter to Alex Salmond, the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition - made up of organisations including Oxfam Scotland, the Church of Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland, RSPB Scotland and Christian Aid Scotland - has insisted that the targets should be raised.

In launching a report on carbon capture storage (CCS) opportunities within Scottish energy policy earlier this month, Alex Salmond said he had an ambition to become a "world leader" in reducing harmful emissions and producing clean, green energy.

He said Scotland wanted to lead the world in CCS and had the ability to store all its own industrial emissions and those from north-east England for the next 200 years.

However, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland has called on Mr Salmond to "show international leadership" by improving the proposals for action in the early years of the bill. "We welcome the proposed shift of the interim greenhouse gas emissions target from 2030 to 2020, but we are very disappointed at the government's amendments setting the 2020 target at only 34%," the coalition said. "If emissions continue to fall at their present rate, we are already on track to make a 32% cut by 2020.

"The claims made about the Climate Change Bill being world leading' cannot be justified if in a decade it delivers merely a 2% improvement on business as usual."

The coalition said that as MP for Banff and Buchan, Mr Salmond signed an Early Day Motion on April 21 stating that adopting a target of 42% cuts by 2020, without reliance on international carbon credits, right away "would show international leadership on climate change legislation", and called on the UK Government to set such a target.

"We should be leading, not following, on climate change. Mr Salmond's own announcements suggest that he knows this to be the case," said the coalition.

The letter points out the SNP manifesto gave a "clear commitment" the Climate Change Bill would deliver at least 3% reductions every year. That, the coalition said, would give a 43% reduction by 2020.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government is taking forward the most ambitious climate change legislation anywhere in the world.

"The bill sets a target of reducing Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, including emissions from international aviation and shipping. But 2050 is a long way off. That is why this government has insisted on the inclusion of annual targets, including a much tougher 2020 interim target."