Scotland Needs 50% Renewables By 2030 To Meet Climate Targets
A new report has concluded that Scotland must achieve a minimum of 50% renewable energy across all its sectors by 2030 if it is to meet its climate targets.
Published this week, the new report presents independent analysis from leading global technical consultancy, Ricardo Energy and Environment, on behalf of WWF Scotland, RSPB Scotland, and Friends of the Earth Scotland. The report, The Energy of Scotland: Heating, Moving, and powering our lives from now to 2030, lays out the most cost effective means to meet Scotland’s climate targets.
If Scotland is to meet its climate targets, 50% of the country’s energy across its electricity, heat, and transport sectors must come from renewable energy by 2030. However, on the country’s current trajectory, that figure is only going to be 30%, so more is needed now.
The report presents several key policy decisions that must be taken to achieve a 50% renewable energy target by 2030. These include:
- Two-fifths of Scotland’s homes will be heated from renewable sources, with a Warm Homes Act helping ensure access to cleaner, more affordable heat
- A national energy efficiency program will have helped reduce energy use in homes to 30% lower than that today and millions of homes across the country will have been insulated
- One in three cars, and half of all buses, will be electric, in line with the long-term need to phase out fossil-fuel vehicles entirely
- Scotland’s electricity will be, almost entirely, generated from renewables, with excess generation exported to our neighbors
- Other welcome benefits would include the creation of new jobs; warmer, healthier homes; and cleaner air helping reduce the burden on the NHS
“Our analysis provides the most sophisticated model yet for what Scotland’s energy system will look like in 2030 if climate targets are to be met in the most cost-effective way,” explains Colin McNaught, Managing Consultant at Ricardo Energy & Environment. “A major transformation across all the energy sectors will need to take place, but the technologies are already available and Scotland has the renewable resources to supply them.”
“This report shows that a 50% renewables target for all our energy needs by 2030 is not only needed, but that it is achievable,” added WWF Scotland director Lang Banks. “Ministers should now make this a Scottish Government target and bring in the policies needed in its forthcoming energy strategy. Doing so would enable Scotland to enjoy the many economic and social benefits that the report suggests would take place as result of generating half of all our energy needs from renewables.”
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