Scotland is being swept along in the general retreat on climate change.

Now that our rivers are being topped up again with new rain, it’s easy to forget the dry summer and the need to take climate change seriously. Four years ago in Glasgow, Scotland led the UN’s Climate Change Conference on a brave course towards net zero by 2045. Now, under the malign influence of Donald Trump and the rise of the Right, we are not so brave.

This week The Scottish Government announced a watered-down climate change plan. It’s already abandoned annual carbon emissions targets – which were being missed – and replaced them with a carbon budgeting system which, it’s hoped, will still lead us to net zero by 2045.

The Scottish climate action secretary Gillian Martin told parliament the new plan is for new pe

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