SNP net zero secretary Michael Matheson has accepted his government does not have a delivery plan to cut emissions – as he suggested the advice in a damning report will form his next climate change blueprint.

Mr Matheson has been put under pressure after the Scottish Government’s statutory advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), published a heavily-critical report – warning that legal targets are being rendered meaningless by a lack of action.

The Scottish Government has failed to meet seven of its 11 annual emissions reductions targets, while the CCC has warned the legal 2030 target to cut 75 per cent of 1990 levels of pollution is “increasingly moving out of view”.

READ MORE: SNP warned climate target 'moving out of view' after scathing report

Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland, the cabinet secretary said the analysis by the CCC was a “very fair report”, adding that “it challenges us on key areas of delivery in meeting our climate change targets”.

He added: “We have made good, steady progress over the course of the last decade or so. We are over halfway in getting to net zero.

“There’s clearly much more we need to do.

“We need to be much more focused on delivery and demonstrate the link between policy and outcomes.”

Asked if the Scottish Government can catch up with progress in meeting the 2030 target, Mr Matheson said: “I do believe we can.”

He added: “I’m very much committed to making sure that we take forward the range of policies that will help us to deliver that."

Asked if the CCC was right in highlighting a lack of a deliver plan, Mr Matheson said: “I accept that.”

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Mr Matheson stressed that the next climate change plans is “due to be published in the later part of next year”.

He added: “It will have that details and that work has already started.

“Ministers are legally obliged to make sure we are addressing the policy areas that will actually help to achieve our statutory targets.”

Responding to an urgent question in Holyrood on the report, Mr Matheson insisted that the Scottish Government will stick with the 2030 target.

He said: “Those targets are among the mist stretching in the world and it is right that we continually act as being ambitious in looking to make sure that we take effect in reducing our emissions overall.”

Conservative net zero spokesperson, Liam Kerr, told Mr Matheson MSPs “have been warning this government for years about the lack of evidence, data and financial planning”.

He asked the cabinet secretary what he will do to “ensure that its targets are realistic, backed by clear delivery plans and fully-costed prior to launch”.

Mr Matheson pointed to the next climate change plan, stressing it will “set out in detail the policies which will be taken forward” and “take into account the advice we have now received from the CCC”.