SCOTLAND'S new Environment Minister is being urged to consider what more could be done to meet the country's ambitious climate-change targets.
Members of Holyrood's Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee also warned Aileen MacLeod that any reduction in the tough targets "would not send the right message globally about Scotland's commitment" to cutting emissions.
Scotland has missed its target for reducing greenhouse gases for the third year in a row. Paul Wheelhouse, the then environment minister, said that achieving the Scottish Government's ambitious targets was "even harder than Parliament and society realised".
Emissions rose slightly (0.8 per cent) in 2012, bucking a general downward trend over the last decade.
In 2012, emissions were estimated to be 55.6 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), above the target of 53.226 Mt. Committee convener Rob Gibson told Ms MacLeod it was a "disappointment that the three successive annual targets have been missed".
Mr Gibson, an SNP MSP, said that "whilst the targets are tough to meet, they set out the ambition Scotland has enshrined in law", arguing that any change to these could "be seen, perhaps globally, as being a climbdown from the ambitious targets set", including the goal of cutting emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
"Revising the annual targets at this time would not send the right message globally about Scotland's commitment to achieving those targets and significantly reducing its emissions," Mr Gibson said. "The committee is concerned about the cumulative negative impact of the missed annual targets and would therefore like to see increased efforts across all sectors and parts of society in Scotland to make every effort possible to try and achieve each annual target.
"The committee encourages the Scottish Government to consider what more can be done to meet the targets."
He also stressed that "making real progress requires a change in approach and behaviour across all parts of society and cannot be delivered by government alone" and told Ms MacLeod: "We all have a responsibility to shine a light on those who are not delivering as much as they could."
Mr Gibson said MSPs on the committee were "under no illusions about the scale of the challenge facing Scotland, where there are many older, hard to heat and hard to treat, houses, and significant rural and fuel poverty in many parts of the country".
He added that MSPs would be keen to find out from the minister "what more can be done to try and meet this challenge".
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