Scotland generated enough electricity from renewable sources last year to meet the equivalent of 90.1% of its total electricity consumption, according to latest figures.
The Scottish government data for 2019 showed an increase of 13.4% on 2018 – meaning the country generated 30.5 TWh of electricity from renewable sources.
That’s enough to charge almost 6.7bn mobile phones for a year, or boil about 700bn kettles.
The target is for 100% of the country’s electricity to be generated from renewable sources by the end of 2020.
And good progress is being made – in 2009, it was only 27.2%.
But we won’t know whether Scotland has met this target or not until more data is published next year.
Although electricity only makes up part of the mix of the energy Scotland needs, the amount of energy produced in Scotland from renewable resources increased between 2017 and 2018 to 21.1%.
The Scottish government said to decarbonise energy-intensive industries, heating buildings and transport, renewable electricity supplies would need to be further enhanced.
Scotland’s renewable energy targets
By 2030, Scottish ministers want renewable energy generation to account for 50% of energy demand across electricity, heat and transport.
In order to achieve the target, Scotland has been moving away from burning fossil fuels, with the last coal-fired power station, Longannet, closing in 2016. The only remaining gas-fired power station is at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.
Onshore wind delivers about 70% of capacity, followed by hydro and offshore wind as Scotland’s main sources of renewable power.
Scotland’s largest single source is the Beatrice offshore wind farm. Its 84 turbines – each with three 75m (246ft) blades – went into operation last year. The wind farm is is capable of generating enough power for 450,000 homes.
The Seagreen Wind Farm, under construction off Angus, will eventually be even bigger and able to power 1.3m homes.
Scotland’s emissions targets
While the pandemic has led to a temporary dip in greenhouse gas emissions, there is still requirement for fundamental changes in the way we live our lives in order to achieve net zero.
Net zero means any emissions will be balanced out by schemes to offset an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere – such as planting trees, or using technology to capture carbon and store it.
So what are Scotland’s climate change targets, and are they the most ambitious in the world as has been claimed?
The Scottish government has set itself a legally-binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the date set for the UK as a whole.
The Scottish government says its targets are “the toughest anywhere in the world”.
They are certainly among the most ambitious.
However, other countries – such as Sweden – have passed legislation with the same goal. Sweden did so two years before Scotland, and it has also set milestones along the way. But Scotland’s milestone targets are more ambitious and include emissions from aviation and shipping.
They also don’t rely on international credits, which is where countries can pay for emissions to be reduced elsewhere instead of reducing their own.
How is Scotland doing?
Much progress has been made, but the hardest changes are still to come.
Emissions of greenhouse gases – such as carbon dioxide – have been cut to about half of what they were 30 years ago.
However, experts say much of this progress has been accomplished by picking off the “low hanging fruit” – the most cost effective or publicly-acceptable changes to make.
The areas that need tackling are transport (about a third of all emissions), farming and land use (about a quarter), business and heavy industry (about a fifth) and how we heat our homes.
Tricky decisions will have to be made, especially with so much of Scotland’s economy based around the oil and gas industry.
A Scottish government-appointed commission is grappling with the question of how to protect the economy and ensure a “just transition” so oil workers and farmers don’t lose out as the world moves away from fossil fuels.
The commission has already published some advice to the Scottish government on how to make recovery from the pandemic greener.
It says immediate actions that can be taken include investing in warmer homes, supporting bus travel, and attaching green conditions to funding.