GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS that breach their targets to cut climate pollution would be penalised under a radical new scheme being proposed by leading environment and development groups.

Departments that authorise airport expansions, road-building or new coal-fired power stations could be fined for the carbon they create. Local authorities could also have to pay for their polluting projects.

The suggestion comes as Scottish ministers are warned by their environmental advisers that they will fail to meet their target of cutting climate pollution 80% by 2050 if they persist with their current plans to boost aviation and build roads.

A report due to be published this week by Oxfam Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland will propose the establishment of a climate fund. Government departments and councils would be obliged to pay into it if they fail to meet their targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Those that meet their targets would not have to make payments. The money would then be made available as grants to public bodies to help with projects designed to reduce pollution.

The climate fund should also donate a proportion of its budget towards international aid aimed specifically at tackling climate change in developing countries, the report suggests. The fund could be modelled on the landfill trading allowance scheme, which currently penalises local authorities for failing to reduce the waste they dump as landfill.

"Our model provides more carrot than stick, but ultimately all of us, including the public sector, need to be held accountable on this issue," said Michael Marra, the policy co-ordinator for Oxfam Scotland.

"Merely asking for change will not be enough," he argued. "The alternative is disaster, especially for communities already struggling in the developing world."

According to Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, ministers and public bodies ought to take responsibility for the projects they back. "From fuel poverty to class sizes, sadly governments generally do not have a great record on delivering targets," he said.

"For climate change, failure is not an option. While parliamentary scrutiny is essential, the climate bill needs sticks as well as carrots to get the attention of all ministers and other public sector leaders."

The Scottish government is expected to publish its long-awaited climate bill in the next two weeks. Ministers have promised that their target to cut pollution 80% by 2050 will include emissions from aviation and shipping.

But a report last week from the Sustainable Development Commission in Scotland, which advises the government on environmental issues, warned that this target was being put at risk by transport policies. It highlighted the M74 extension, the Aberdeen bypass, another Forth road crossing and the expansion of Edinburgh and Glasgow airports as problematic.

"Government indicators clearly show that road traffic growth remains a big problem for Scotland," the commission's vice-chair, Jan Bebbington, told the Sunday Herald.

The Scottish government pointed out that it was currently developing policies to meet its climate targets. "Any decisions will be made in the context of that work whilst balancing the future needs of Scotland's economy and our purpose of increasing sustainable economic growth," said a government spokesman.

He also rejected the idea that public bodies should have to pay if they exceed their targets. "What is important is reducing overall emissions, not what sector the reductions come from," the spokesman argued.

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