Net zero campaign will cost Scots £700m a year – Daily Business

Tax rises and public service cuts will be required if the Scottish Government sticks to its demanding net zero targets, according to a new report.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission, which oversees government finances, reveals that battling climate change will cost the public purse an average of £700m a year until 2050.

SFC chairman Professor Graeme Roy said that the cost of reducing emissions will have “significant effects on public finances,” with spending on mitigation “expected to total £21 billion over the next 25 years”.

The bulk of the funding will need to come from Holyrood’s own resources, with the report stating: “devolved additional public investment required could average £0.7 billion a year, in 2024 prices, from 2026 to 2050”.

It adds that “public spending required in devolved areas is expected to be 26% more per person in Scotland than in the rest of the UK over the period.

“The funding received from the UK Government would not be sufficient to cover the total costs of mitigation and additional funding would have to be found from elsewhere in the budget,” it states.

Climate Action and Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said: “We are grateful to the Scottish Fiscal Commission for this report – which bases its findings on the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) advice to the Scottish Government in May in its role as an advisory body rather than policy maker.”