Royal Assent rubber stamps Scotland's ambitious carbon targets

Scotland's ambitious Climate Change Bill received Royal Assent last week, committing the government to delivering deeper cuts in emissions than its neighbour south of the border.

The bill includes targets to cut emissions 80 per cent by 2050 and 42 per cent by 2020, representing a significantly more ambitious goal than the 34 per cent reduction in emissions that the UK government has promised to deliver by 2020 as part of its own Climate Change Act.

The passage of the bill comes as the Scottish government announced plans for a flurry of renewable power projects as part of its strategy to establish the country as a global hub for renewable energy technologies.

Today the government formally approved plans for two large-scale wind farms that combined are expected to supply energy to 43,000 homes.

The 29 turbine Berry Burn wind farm near Forres in Moray is set to have a capacity of 78MW, while the six-turbine extension to a 20 turbine wind farm near Fort Augustus in Inverness-shire will increase the capacity of the existing site by 15MW to 65MW.

According to the government, the combined projects will employ around 100 people during construction and provide five full-time jobs.

Scotland has already installed over three gigawatts of renewable capacity with a further three gigawatts of projects in the planning stages.

Energy minister Jim Mather said that bolstering the country's renewable energy capacity will help drive Scotland's economic recovery.

"Our comprehensive climate change laws demand that we continue to support good projects that reduce emissions and help Scotland become a global role model for a sustainable, low-carbon economy," he added.

The announcement came just days after Scotland's first combined heat and power (CHP) facility was officially opened in Dumfries. The plant, which will be operated by waste and energy firm Scotgen, is expected to produce 6.2MW of energy from 60,000 tonnes of municipal, non-hazardous and hazardous waste each year.

Scotland has set a target to send up to a quarter of its waste to waste-to-energy plants as part of a Zero Waste strategy that also aims to increase the country's recycling rate to 70 per cent by 2025.

Meanwhile, the Forestry Commission in Scotland also announced plans to help bolster renewable energy capacity in the country by inviting companies to help identify and develop potential sites for small-scale river-based hydro-electric projects.

It said that existing small-scale hydro developments already generate 11.9MW of power and that is potential to expand the sector further.