The Scottish Green Party has slammed today's announcement by SNP Ministers that they will follow the lead of the UK Government and scrap the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) in Scotland.
SDC Scotland has for five years been the only organisation to advise independently on the Scottish Government’s progress on aligning policy with Scotland’s environmental, social and economic needs now and in the fuure.
The SDC is the official environmental watchdog tasked with scrutinising the Scottish Government's environmental credentials.
In May this year, for example, the SDC criticised the Scottish Government for "making poor progress on its sustainability targets".
Professor Jan Bebbington, SDC Scotland Commissioner said in a statement today: “There is no way to disguise the fact that the withdrawal of Scottish Government financial support significantly weakens the government's ability to progress sustainable development.
“It is deeply regrettable that the Scottish Government has decided this. Following the UK Government’s decision to withdraw funding from the SDC UK the Welsh Assembly Government has shown real leadership in establishing a critical and independent advisory body on sustainable development. The same leadership has not been shown in Scotland.’
“Parliament and Audit Scotland have the formal powers to hold Government and public bodies to account on their sustainable development performance. This will be a crucial task as Scotland seeks to make the transformation to a just, sustainable and low carbon society.”
Green MSP Patrick Harvie, said: "It's depressing but unsurprising to hear that the SNP have axed the Sustainable Development Commission. After all, this is a government which remains hooked on dwindling oil supplies and committed to a gargantuan road-building programme.
“No other body has had the institutional clout of the SDC, and SNP Ministers were no doubt tired of having their many failings pointed out.
"The SDC served as Scotland's vital environmental watchdog, and the SNP should be ashamed of themselves for unceremoniously putting it down in this way. They cannot close down the debate, though, and everyone in Scotland's environmental movement will now have to redouble their efforts to keep Ministers honest."
Earlier this month the Scottish Greens published research showing that almost a quarter of the carbon cuts claimed by Scottish Ministers had not been achieved.
They claimed the emissions from Scotland's offshore oil and gas industry have been kept off Scotland's books by UK administrations keen to undermine the SNP argument that "it's Scotland's oil".
But according to the Scottish Green Party, even these emissions do not count the climate consequences of burning the oil and gas extracted, merely those associated with extraction and production.
The Greens claim that while SNP Ministers continue to claim 90% of the income from oil and gas in Scottish waters, they have failed to take the corresponding 90% of the emissions from these offshore industries into account. These so-called "unallocated emissions" have risen since 1990, and Scotland's real emissions have therefore fallen by far less than claimed by Scottish Ministers.
In addition, the say last year's Climate Change Act set a target of a 42% reduction by 2020, and SNP Minister Stewart Stevenson inaccurately claimed just last month that "Scotland has reached the halfway point".
In addition, the decision to allow deepwater oil exploration, backed by SNP, Labour, LibDems and Tories at Holyrood, will result in even more pollution from Scottish waters. This pollution will again remain uncounted against Scotland's targets.
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