The announcement was greeted with outrage by environmental groups.

The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) last month sharply criticised Scotland for repeatedly failing to achieve its climate targets.

The required acceleration in emissions reduction in Scotland was now "beyond what is credible", due to inadequate efforts in areas including home heating, transport, farming and nature restoration, it said.

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf vowed that the country would still meet its target of reaching net zero by 2045.

"The CCC were always clear with us that the 2030 target was a stretch target," he told Scottish lawmakers.

"But what doesn't change, and what won't change, is that end destination of 2045."

Greenpeace UK's political campaigner, Ami McCarthy, attacked the Scottish government's decision.

Legislating to reduce Scotland's climate ambition after the planet's hottest-ever recorded 12-month period was like "striking a match in a petrol station", he said.

The initial target had been entirely achievable when set five years ago, he argued: the problem was the Scottish government's failure to deliver the necessary policies.

Oxfam said any decision by Scottish ministers to re-write Scotland's climate rulebook would be "an acute global embarrassment".

Thursday's decision is just the latest setback for the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP).

It has been hit by internal squabbling, resignations and according to opinion polls a fall in support ahead of a general election in the UK this year.

The SNP, which advocates for Scottish independence from the UK, remains ahead on general election voting intentions, with a lead of seven points over Labour, according the polling agency Ipsos.

But that is down from a 12-point lead in May 2023 and a 10-point lead in November 2023.

Scotland hosted the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow in 2021.

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IPSOS