THE Scottish government is failing to make urgent progress to meet its goals on reducing emissions, an environmental watchdog said today.

Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said ministers are not delivering on the “short-term stuff” needed to meet the 2045 net-zero target.

The intervention comes a year after the Scottish government scrapped its legally binding annual and interim targets for cutting carbon emissions after admitting they would not be met.

The overall goal of net zero by 2045 remains in place but experts have warned urgent progress is needed now if that is to be achieved.

Speaking to Holyrood magazine a month before the CCC publishes its latest advice to the Scottish government, Ms Pinchbeck said climate progress across Britain was stalling.

She said: “The much more important thing for the Scottish government to focus on right now is progress right in front of their faces in the next five to 10 years.

“Long-term goals are important … but Scotland, as with Westminster, has not made progress on the short-term stuff to deliver on any targets.”

Ms Pinchbeck also stressed the need for a net-zero strategy that ensures workers are not left behind.

Speaking about the closure of Grangemouth, where around 400 jobs are set to be lost this year, she said: “Deindustrialisation is not a successful decarbonisation strategy.

“Sensible governments move early to do something for those workers and those industries.

“Alongside a decarbonisation strategy you need a strategy for those industries and those communities that will need additional support.”

WWF Scotland said Ms Pinchbeck’s remarks were “further evidence” that climate action in Scotland was “slowly but surely slipping down the list of priorities of the Scottish government.”

Io Hadjicosta, climate and energy policy manager at the environmental group, added: “The Scottish government is watering down or abandoning policies that would reverse the trend of our countryside burning, wildlife declining and driving carbon emissions down.

“One year on from the scrapping of the 2030 climate target, countless climate policies remain on the shelf, when they should be implemented on the ground across Scotland, driving emissions down and improving our everyday lives.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Scotland is now halfway to net zero and continues to be ahead of the UK as a whole in delivering long-term emissions reductions.

“We remain fully committed to delivering net zero by 2045.”