A SCOTTISH minister has said she is “very disappointed” after reports that the Government is set to ditch a key climate target.

It comes after a report warned it is now “beyond credible” that Scotland’s target to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030 will be met – and media reports that the Scottish Government will ditch it as a target as a result.

However, the Scottish Government is reportedly set to remain committed to meeting its target of net-zero emissions by 2045.

READ MORE: Scottish climate changing faster than expected, says new research

The Climate Change Committee (CCC), in a report published in March, said that for Scotland to achieve the goal of cutting harmful emissions by 75% by 2030, the rate of emission reduction in most sectors would need to increase by a factor of nine in the years up to the end of the decade.

As a result, it said: “The acceleration required in emissions reduction to meet the 2030 target is now beyond what is credible.”

Scotland Net-Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan will give an update to Holyrood on next steps following the CCC report on Thursday afternoon.

After news that the target is to be ditched broke on Wednesday evening, International Development Minister Kaukab Stewart (below) told BBC Debate Night she was “very disappointed”.

The National: Kaukab Stewart is the SNP MSP for Glasgow Kelvin

Asked about the target being dropped, she said: “The committee said that they had their concerns on it. I'm disappointed, I have to say. I have to admit that I am disappointed with that.

“We are making progress on it. I mean, even just this week, the pollution levels in Byres Road, Dumbarton Road, with the measures that we are taking locally here in Glasgow, with active travel, investing in our hydrogen buses – we are making progress on that.

“So, I am very disappointed.”

Speaking ahead of her expected statement on Thursday, McAllan said that taking action to tackle the twin crises of climate change and nature loss is the “defining global issue of our era”.

READ MORE: Climate change research condemns lack of political action

She added: “Whilst we are faced with a UK Government which is rowing back on climate action, and hostile to measures already adopted by nations across the world like the Deposit Return Scheme, the progress we have made since Scotland declared a global climate emergency in 2019 and since Glasgow hosted COP26 in 2021 is now at risk.

“This cannot continue. The future of our planet and the security of future generations is far too important.

“Tackling climate change is an environmental imperative and our moral obligation. However, done correctly, it can also present perhaps the single greatest social and economic opportunity of many generations in Scotland.”

The ditching of the commitment will be seen as embarrassing for the Scottish Greens, who entered government with the SNP after the 2021 Holyrood election.

The party’s climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: “We are absolutely determined to accelerate the urgent and substantial action needed to tackle the climate crisis as laid out by the CCC recently, and fully expect the Scottish Government to respond to that challenge.”

Climate campaigners said that ditching the 2030 target would be an “acute global embarrassment” for the Scottish Government.

Jamie Livingstone, head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “With the world becoming a dirtier and deadlier place every day, any decision by Scottish ministers to rewrite Scotland’s climate rulebook would be an acute global embarrassment.

“It would also be the direct and damaging consequence of the Scottish Government’s own dilly-dallying on climate action.”