Previously, advice was noted but the Parliament then went on to set its own targets.iIn the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 In the CCC's view it was the impossibility of reaching the statutory target set for 2030 that was the main factor delaying the laying of a new CCP in this Session. In April 2024, they told us they had had "deep concerns" about the realism of this target from the outset, that it was the "wrong" target, and had "said that we had no path to hit it".iiNZET Committee, Official Report, 23 April 2024, cols 3, 5-6 (Chris Stark, Chief Executive)
Secondly, with interim targets measured over five-year spans, this might mean less attention paid to short-term trends and "blips" (like a cold winter) and more on what works in the longer term.