NEW FORTH BRIDGE: By Rob Edwards

Major transport projects given the green light by Scottish ministers, including the new Forth road bridge, will spew out 900,000 extra tonnes of pollution by 2020, jeopardising the government's targets on climate change.

Transport minister Stewart Stevenson told the Scottish parliament last week that 29 proposed road and rail schemes across Scotland would "cut" carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100,000 tonnes "compared with business as usual".

But according to leading environmental group WWF Scotland, all that means is that a little pollution will be shaved off a huge projected increase. Instead of transport emissions growing a million tonnes by 2020, they would grow by 900,000 tonnes.

Scotland's carbon account will still be taken "massively into the red", argued WWF Scotland's director, Dr Richard Dixon. As a result ministers will struggle to meet the target of reducing climate pollution 80% by 2050.

"The week after the climate change bill was introduced we should have had a transport plan about investing in rail, cycling and walking and working hard to get people out of cars," he said. "Instead we have a monster more-of-everything plan that panders to the car driver at the expense of the climate."

Plans for a £20 million boost for cycling were rejected last week by the Scottish parliament's finance committee. The amount of money left to spend on cycling was "miserable", argued cycling campaigners.

The Scottish government, however, insisted that its transport plans would result in "a net reduction in emissions". It stressed that it was committed to meeting its climate change targets.

A government spokesman said: "We will be continuing to invest heavily in public transport, whilst promoting cycling and walking as an alternative to the car. Priorities such as electrifying the rail network and innovative plans to turn the existing Forth bridge into a dedicated public transport-only corridor bring with them an opportunity like never before to encourage people on to public transport."