Scotland plans to make all public sector vehicles "low carbon" by 2020

Just days after passing arguably the world's most ambitious climate change bill, the Scottish government yesterday proposed new targets that could result in almost all new cars sold in the country after 2020 meeting tough low carbon standards.

As part of a new consultation document, the Scottish government proposed that all vehicles used by public sector workers should be "low carbon" by 2020 and that 95 per cent of all new vehicles should meet the same "low carbon" standards.

Climate Change Minister Stewart Stevenson said that the proposals would not only help Scotland meet its ambitious target to cut carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2020, but would also "help create a market that can drive further development of low carbon technology".

"Emissions from transport have been increasing in recent years and a major uptake of low carbon vehicle technologies is required to reverse this trend," he said. "We all have a role to play in tackling climate change but the public sector must be seen to set the standard."

A spokesman for the Scottish government said that it would work with industry through the consultation process to define what it means by "low carbon vehicles ", but he hinted that any resulting standards are likely to set very low emissions targets.

"We don't want to be prescriptive about technology, but it is clear that if we are to meet our emission targets we will need to decarbonise transport altogether," he said, adding that electric cars, plug-in hybrid vehicles and hydrogen cars were all likely to benefit from the proposed targets.