Glasgow and Edinburgh may not reach net zero by 2030

However, The Scotsman reports that officials in Scotland's two largest cities are now examining whether that will actually be possible.

Edinburgh has cut emissions by 48% and Glasgow by 45.7%, with the latter admitting that on current pace it would only cut emissions by 73.8% by 2030.

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The Climate Change Committee recently warned that the Scottish Government must 'urgently' come up with an alternative to the scrapped plan to replace gas boilers in homes and make possible "a rapid transition from fossil-fuel heating systems".

It also urged Holyrood to improve public transport and active travel infrastructure, which would include long-term powers for local councils.

Jane Meagher, the Scottish Labour leader of City of [[Edinburgh]] Council said: "Decarbonising a growing city like [[Edinburgh]] continues to be challenging, but we’re making good progress. Despite our population increasing by 16 per cent since 2005, we’ve almost halved city emissions.

“For all that we’ve accomplished, there’s still a long way to go. We’re not yet achieving change at the pace required and there are many factors beyond our control."

Glasgow City Council, said “very significant progress” has been made towards the 2030 net zero target, but warned that “public and private sector investment is needed”.

Scottish Conservative net zero and energy spokesperson, Douglas Lumsden, told The Scotsman: “No one believes it is realistic for councils to achieve their net zero targets in the next five years, especially when they have received no effective support from the SNP government.

“Rather than chasing a pipe dream and imposing clearly unaffordable costs on households, councils and the SNP government should focus on delivering an affordable transition.”